May 2004 Archives

May 31

Can anybody help me find some old Lucasfilm games, like Maniac Mansion, Secret of Monkey Island, Zak Mckracken and the Alien Mindbenders, Loom? I used to own all of them but the disks are bad. I have been going everywhere and I still can't find the game for sale. posted by Keyser Soze at 10:59 PM PST - 10 comments

Slippy couch cushions: On the most comfortable piece of furniture I own, the cushions have an annoying habit of slipping out from under whomever sits on them. Not instantly, of course, but in a slow, inexorable creep toward the floor. I end up tucking them back into place at least once every day. Any suggestions? [more inside]posted by aladfar at 8:32 PM PST - 12 comments

I just tried to download Betrayal at Krondor from the nifty Home of the Underdogs, a repository for lots of fun old games. Unfortunately, after downloading the zip file of the game, I can't get it to run. Attempting to run krondor.exe gives me the error message "You do not have enough memory to run Betrayal at Krondor. Try using the Make Boot Disk option from INSTALL." Somehow, since I'm running a newish machine, I doubt that a lack of memory is the problem. But what could it be? Any suggestions? posted by UKnowForKids at 8:21 PM PST - 7 comments

A friend is moving to Baltimore, MD. She has been offered a good apartment, but we don't have any contacts there to scope out the area. So, we are calling on MeFites who may be able to help us with a neighborhood question (and general Baltimore advice)! [More Inside] [more inside]posted by fionab at 5:16 PM PST - 15 comments

"Locked" cell phones. How locked are they? If I want to buy a phone that was used on AT&T and use it with T-Mobile -- or say, go between Verizon and Sprint -- how much of a headache am I putting myself in for? posted by namespan at 3:20 PM PST - 11 comments

Oregon Trail. A-Train. Some of the games of my childhood ... and I still have the original media. But apparently my graphics card and computer are too fast or just plain wrong for these games. Is there some sort of emulator that I can get to slow my box back down and fix the graphics issues? posted by SpecialK at 2:57 PM PST - 7 comments

Back in 1998, noted scientist Jim Lovelock - granted one of Science Magazine's rare editorial slots - proposed this (noting that we cannot and must not take the continuity of our current civilization for granted) : "What we need is a primer on science, clearly written and unambiguous in its meaning--a primer for anyone interested in the state of the Earth and how to survive and live well on it. One that would serve also as a primary school science text. It would be the scientific equivalent of the Bible." So where is this Science Bible (printed on acid free paper, and widely distributed around the Globe in many languages - so as to survive as the basis for rebuilding in the event of catastrophe) ? Has anyone heard of such a project ? [more inside]posted by troutfishing at 2:01 PM PST - 12 comments

CellPhilter. It's time for me to accept the leash and collar and get a cell phone. I know nearly nothing about the subject. I have some ideas on what I'd like. I found this thread, which has some helpful sites, but nothing that satisfies my curiosity. [m to the i] [more inside]posted by mwhybark at 1:45 PM PST - 11 comments

About 18 years ago (I was 5) I saw a cartoon where a kid gets lost in a forrest. He's attacked by black birds but then a spaceship lands and its pilot picks the kid up and saves him. Cut to the scene in the future with the kid, now grown up, with a metal plate in his head telling someone the story. Any idea what it the cartoon is called? posted by xpermanentx at 12:30 PM PST - 6 comments

Is there any way to make my laptop run faster? Two-year old Dell Inspiron 2500, Win XP, some Celeron craptastic processor, 256 meg RAM (max). My computer expertise: 3 o/o 10, which encompasses disc tools and Spybot, but not much more. Does it matter how full the drive is? posted by gottabefunky at 9:56 AM PST - 18 comments

Can anyone point me to a helpful movie glossary that has a list of movie shots (pan shot, establishment shot, close-up, etc)? Looking for as comprehensive a list as possible with good explanations. Thanks. posted by Slimemonster at 11:15 PM PST - 4 comments

What's your favorite movie where stuff blows up and people do outrageous stunts? Alternatively, what are the best martial arts films, I remember one trilogy I saw part of with some crazy ass stunts, fighting on ladders, some monk whose mother was a ninja, etc. Getting back to the first part of the question: preferably funny, stylish, and sexy. James Bond meets Batman. Fire away. posted by Grod at 8:36 PM PST - 42 comments

I'm going crazy trying to sell my house. It's been on the market for a little over 60 days now, which I know isn't unreasonable, but it's making me nuts. Any suggestions on getting it to sell faster without lowering the price? Ridiculous superstitions welcome. posted by LittleMissCranky at 7:02 PM PST - 32 comments

My parents used to tell me fantastic tales, that back in the day (being the 1950s), banks offered interest rates on savings accounts upwards of 10%, with almost no fees and charges. In comparison, my current bank (in Australia) offers me 0.5% interest, which is completely countered by about the first hour's worth of monthly charges. This is despite the bank being more efficient, having fewer employees, and having greater access to global capital. Can anyone tell me, if the global economy is really doing so great these days, why are savings / investment interest rates so abysmal in comparison to the past? Will this ever turn around again in the future? posted by Jimbob at 4:47 PM PST - 15 comments

In religious iconography, there are standardized symbols to depict "holiness" in figures--haloes, rays, flames, those little horns on Moses's forehead, etc. Are there equivalent "anti-haloes" for demonic/unholy icons? Any links to examples would be appreciated. Non-western examples welcome. posted by DaShiv at 3:16 PM PST - 20 comments

Lately, Google has been down a lot (or at least inaccessible from where I am). Does anyone know why this is? Also, what's the best search engine to use when you can't use Google? posted by grumblebee at 10:59 AM PST - 9 comments

May 29

Hunt the quote. For weeks I've been trying to track down a sort of litany about how much better life is in France, "because the wine is cheaper", or something like that. I thought it was Kingsley Amis, but it's not, and Google has let me down. Let loose the literary boozehounds! posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 7:58 PM PST - 3 comments

Minor curiosity has turned into a thorn between my toes, the way it often does: Someone named Dave Woolford did this graphic. I like it a lot, for some strange reason. But I can't find any info on the artist. Maybe he's a pro, or maybe it was just one-time sketch? I think it originally appeared here. I'd like to see more of his stuff, but Google does me no good... posted by Shane at 7:02 PM PST - 3 comments

Why is it so damn complicated to convert between video formats? This afternoon I went on vcdhelp.com to find out how to convert AVI to SVCD and the simplest tutorial involved six different tools and unbelievably many settings. How come nobody has written something to do it in one step? Can it really not be automated? posted by Aaorn at 4:33 PM PST - 13 comments

I'm missing an adaptor for my Nintendo Entertainment System. it takes 9v, 1.5a but I've found a 9v 4.5a adaptor that fits and works but I wonder if there are any consequences to the addition current strength? well, are there? posted by mcsweetie at 4:28 PM PST - 9 comments

I've been reading about Nootropics, or "smart drugs" for a little while, digging around in rec.drugs.smart. I wanted to ask if anyone in the mefi-verse has used some of the latest nootropics and what their experiences were. I won't go into the complexities of my situation save to say that I'd like to increase my focus and mental acuity during the conclusion of a long, life-draining project that rhymes with "dissertation." Thanks. posted by mecran01 at 6:44 AM PST - 17 comments

May 28

I have a Hard drive question, using XP Pro SP1, 3 hard drives, last one is a Western Digital 160GB special edition. MI (partition and file corruption) [more inside]posted by Keyser Soze at 9:56 PM PST - 6 comments

I just realized that I get downright passionate about telling people how to have the best outdoor/hiking experience in the south half of BC/Alberta. I'm thinking this means I'd be happiest were I to get back into hiking. But I feel I've done it all here... does anyone have recommendations for truly stunning 3-5 day backpacking excursions? They don't necessarily require mountains: I've done some coastal hiking, and it was wonderful, too. Where in the world should I go? posted by five fresh fish at 9:55 PM PST - 15 comments

Graduation celebration! I just graduated from college and moved in with my girlfriend in northern New Jersey; as such, she and I are planning on going out to celebrate sometime soon (along with some friends). She's been to a few bars in her time in NYC but we're still not sure where we'd like to go. So, I'm hoping for some advice from you Gotham-based MeFites as to what places might be good to check out. A few more details inside. [more inside]posted by cyrusdogstar at 8:13 PM PST - 8 comments

As part of a very large road trip I'm taking later in the summer, I'm planning on driving from Vancouver to Winnipeg. What's the best route, for scenic/cultural reasons or otherwise? Should I stay on Highway 1, cut up to Highway 16, or use something else? posted by mrbula at 6:46 PM PST - 20 comments

Cell phone question. Got an LG from Verizon -- but I suck at typing on phones, and the thought of entering the umpteen dozens of contacts I have has scared me from entering all but a few.

When I was on T-Mobile, you could add contacts online. Is there any quick and easy way for me to do something like this? I just want to type them, since it would take me six and a half years to enter them manually. posted by oissubke at 2:57 PM PST - 5 comments

My hazy memory of high school history is leading me to see parallels between the era of the British East India company and our current situation in Iraq. I'd like to read more to find out if this makes sense. Does anyone know of a particularly good book on the East India Company? I don't usually read history books so I don't know how to figure out which are credible and which aren't. posted by small_ruminant at 1:35 PM PST - 6 comments

I'm looking for the original source of a Charles Darwin quote, which is sometimes stated as "It is not the strongest of the species that survive, not the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change." This isn't easy since seemingly thousands of authors and public speakers have quoted him without referencing the source (although they do attribute it to Darwin). Can you help? [more versions of the quote inside] [more inside]posted by found missing at 12:40 PM PST - 10 comments

What to do with an old dog that sometimes bites? We have an old (perhaps 10-12 year old?) terrier mutt that we got from a rescue organziation 3 years ago. We have a new baby (now 5 months old) and I am worried that she will grab his hair and he will bite her.

He's bitten my dad who didn't lift him up the right way. He's bitten my husband when he was trying to wash the dog's ear. He "nips" at you life you accidentally step on him but doesn't bite. He's very calm and mellow usually, and really good around our parrot who preens his tail, jumps on his head, and does other things like that that many dogs would bite over.
Should we get rid of him-is he a threat to the baby? Do you think there's a shelter or group that would take him since he's old, mostly deaf, going blind, arthritic, and sometimes bites? Should we just put him down and be glad he's had a wonderful last 3 years of his life? Some help please. It breaks my heart... posted by aacheson at 10:30 AM PST - 27 comments

Win XP is displaying my files in backwards alphabetical order (z-->a, not a-->z). I can't get it to switch back (I've tried - any ideas what I can do? (I've tried using explorer to reset all folders). posted by ascullion at 10:25 AM PST - 10 comments

The new network Friday challenge: I need to set up a network for my new place and I wanted to do it with my available stuff. How close can I come? More inside. [more inside]posted by Mayor Curley at 7:09 AM PST - 16 comments

Have we always had poor eyesight? I know, of course you are going to exclaim "yes!", but in the days of people not having glasses, shouldn't natural selection have weeded out people like me? How did we cope without vision correction, from an objective viewpoint? posted by Keyser Soze at 4:29 AM PST - 30 comments

Independence Air is coming to where I live. It will be the first low-fare airline in this area. Rates will be cut in half to compete with this "threat." My question is: Where has all my money gone that was twice as much as needed? The local paper has a story that says that the big airlines who had to cut rates in half will still be profitable. So they were skimming $200 in pure profit over and above whatever profit they can make with competition? Thief! Oh wait. posted by ajpresto at 4:19 AM PST - 8 comments

One of my rats is suddenly very lethargic. Normally she is very excitable, but now she moves slowly and falls asleep when I hold her. She is 18 months old. What can I do? Should I call a vet? I am very worried. posted by malpractice at 3:05 AM PST - 12 comments

Yo, skryche! How do I keep Excel from hotlinking URLs as I paste them into cells? I use spreadsheets to store, sort, and transform lots of URLs. But Excel seems to think that anything beginning with "http://" is something I want blue and underlined and hotlinked for easy clicking. It doesn't happen right away, only once I leave the cell does it become a hot link. I'd like Excel to just leave my text strings alone. I don't want to launch a browser window every time I click in a cell that contains a URL. And I'm tired of doing the right-click-remove-hyperlink thing every single time. Formatting the column as plain text before dropping in the URL *doesn't* work. As soon as you paste a URL into a cell, Excel wakes up, decides to "preserve the formatting" of your pasted text, and voila! A nice blue hot link. Is there a preference I can un-check for this?

Sorry if this is a stupid one. I can't find anything in the help documentation or via Google that solves my stupid problem. posted by scarabic at 12:15 AM PST - 8 comments

Passport issue: Suddenly, the day before departure, I discover 2 facts. 1) South Africa requires a complete blank visa page in a passport for a tourist's entry. 2) My passport has no such pages remaining. WTF? Anyone ever hear of this before, and been barred from an entry because of it? [more inside]posted by Goofyy at 12:08 AM PST - 11 comments

May 27

Does anybody else inexplicably become hypnotized by the Shawshank Redemption network when they're flipping through channels? Is there anybody in the TV watching universe who hasn't seen the Shawshank Redemption by now? How many times do you think you've seen parts of it? posted by Stan Chin at 5:24 PM PST - 34 comments

Ok in regard to this thread, how do they get your name for jury duty? I thought it was when you registered to vote. Others say when you register for SS or start filing income taxes. I seriously doubt SS as it only applies to certain people. Any info on where the man gets our names? [more inside]posted by geoff. at 4:52 PM PST - 17 comments

Mybookmarks.com has been off the air for over 24hrs now.
Anybody else use this site and/or know whether it's gone forever?.Hoping I haven't lost all those mefi links! posted by johnny7 at 3:17 PM PST - 0 comments

How the #*(& do I re-enable Windows Update on my Win2K system? I've just spent three hours farting around with Google searches, registry and GPO hacking, and suchlike, all to no avail. I figure I must have done something some time in the past to turn it off -- I've no idea why -- and the solution is completely eluding me. Grrrr. [more inside]posted by five fresh fish at 1:34 PM PST - 12 comments

I'm looking for some (free) software that will let me set up a "document dropbox" on my web server. Basically I want to upload files and then have them be available -- through a nice-looking interface -- to users of my choosing. Searching Google and Sourceforge hasn't found me anything useful yet, although bytehoard is about 25% of the way there. posted by Aaorn at 1:05 PM PST - 7 comments

Toilet paper. Jumping off from my flub in the toiletlids thread, I want to know how you configure your new toilet paper rolls and and why you think that manner of installation works best. Toilet paper tongue over or under? More. Inside. [more inside]posted by brownpau at 12:09 PM PST - 29 comments

Help, I'm stuck in IE/Mac hell! (It's the only browser we support for Mac at the moment, so it has to work there.) I have a dropdown list with various values: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, etc. One of these values is set by the JSP as the current selected value:

Page 3

. Clicking on the value in the dropdown you want (Page 5, whatever) will bring you to that new page. The code is valid and works perfectly fine in IE/Win, Safari, Mozilla, etc. But on IE/Mac, when the new page loads, the value that's *visible* on screen in the dropdown box is not the currently-selected one, but rather whatever value was the first value in the dropdown list! So you could be on Page 1, go to Page 5, but Page 1 (the first option in the list of options) is what displays in the dropdown. To make matters funkier, when you then click to open that dropdown, it "jumps" to show you that yes, you're really on Page 5, that Page 5 is indeed the selected/highlighted value. So it's a display bug of some sort...?

I've seen plenty of bug reports and workarounds online for Mac/IE, but nearly all of them involve CSS, not core HTML pieces like options/selects. We do use CSS on the site, but it's minimal, and we generally use nested tables, inside which this naughty dropdown resides. Ideas to get around this--maybe javascript to force the correct value to display? Anyone else had this sort of issue? Help! posted by Asparagirl at 11:52 AM PST - 2 comments

I find myself in possession of a Sony Mini Digital Video Cassette tape that was taken while I was in Scotland a couple of weeks ago. I need to get it converted over to NTSC, PAL, and DVD, but am having trouble.... (I know you didn't see it coming, but there's more inside!) [more inside]posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 9:36 AM PST - 9 comments

How much should an Advanced Excel (PivotTable, lookups, etc.) hombre in Manhattan be getting paid? I've been temping in this hole of an office for a few months and almost all spreadsheetery has become my responsibility. I think some sort of raise is in order, but I'm not sure what my target should be. posted by skryche at 9:02 AM PST - 17 comments

I've been drawing a comic book, and I'm assembling and coloring the pages in Photoshop. My old 4 X 5 Wacom Graphire 3 tablet seems to be falling short of my needs (poor tracking, and meager pressure sensitivity), and I was looking for opinions about replacing it with a 4 X 5 Intuos tablet (twice the pressure sensitivity) or a larger Graphire 3 (6 X 8)?

Where I work has suddenly become all fascist about internet access and blocked SSH access. This is a pain because it was how I used to access my emails (SSH in, use Pine). I can't use a POP3 client on my PC because they've had that port blocked for ages. I'm currently using mail2web but don't like the way it handles replies and the general lack of functionality. My question is: is there a good free webmail application out there that is either managed (like mail2web) or I can install in my account (Linux, no db access, no root). If the latter can cope with the folders I have (I use spamassassin), safely render HTML emails (possible junk mail) and is easy to install, then that would be excellent. I have tried Google and Freshmeat but all the ones I saw were either commercial or looked rather featureless. Any recommendations? posted by ralawrence at 3:35 AM PST - 13 comments

The Pilgrimage of St James, also known as the Pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela - involves walking for about 800km across northern spain. I've seen a few faq's online, but what i'd really like is some advice from a fellow mefite who has actually done all or part of this trail.
Also, some general advice on hiking very long distances would be appreciated also. posted by kev23f at 1:50 AM PST - 2 comments

May 26

CSS question. Usually, I can figure these things out. This one has me stumped. I know its a box model problem, but none of the usual fixes seem to fix it. Everything looks right in Mozilla, Firefox, and Opera. Bigger, better explanation inside, along with some code. [more inside]posted by Grod at 8:59 PM PST - 12 comments

Exam time. 2 weeks until some massive exams, which mostly consist of memorising and regurgitating code snippets and proofs for maths theorems out. Any tips/hints for last minute revision to round off longer term memorisation? posted by Mossy at 8:47 PM PST - 9 comments

What are some genuinely good-looking corporate web sites that look decent across all browsers? I want to send sample websites to a web design firm, but my bookmarks consist of only blogs. posted by LukeyBoy at 6:44 PM PST - 10 comments

WORDPRESS. I've asked in the forums. Least helpful place I've ever been. If anyone here is familiar with wordpress please tell me, how do I set it up so that the page the user sees when s/he goes to a permalink has a link to the comments popup at the bottom and not the damn comment area I've been trying to do this for days now. [more inside]posted by Grod at 5:50 PM PST - 8 comments

What is the best way to ship carbonated beverages overseas? (In this case it's rootbeer from California to Australia.) Will they explode with the pressure changes? posted by small_ruminant at 4:16 PM PST - 11 comments

I have searched and searched in vain: Is there anywhere I can get browser stats that tell me the OS and the browsers as a percentage (instead of one or the other)? Alternatively, is there anywhere I can find browsers -- including sub-releases (5.0, 5.1, etc) -- as a percentage? [more inside]posted by o2b at 2:53 PM PST - 5 comments

Storm Windows. I need to replace my home storm windows to save on heating costs but want to avoid toxic vinyl windows which seem to be what everyone says is "good". Any recommendations for good storm windows that are not vinyl? posted by stbalbach at 2:35 PM PST - 4 comments

Very specific question - for about ten years, I've been trying to hunt down a copy of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata as performed by a symphony (I do not know which one). I initially heard it on a tape sent along with my mother's Reader's Digest subscription. The tape was full of piano music played by symphonies - Blue Danube, Flight of the Bumblebee, Fantaisie Impromptu and Moonlight Sonata. I'd love to buy a cd of any of these songs, but mostly, I'm looking for Moonlight Sonata, performed by a symphony instead of on piano.

Bookfilter: Trying to find the title of a book I read about / was told about. I recall it being explained as a large number of short stories ('26' sticks in my brain), each written from the perspective of a different passenger in a train / subway car. That's all I've got. posted by adamkempa at 12:39 PM PST - 4 comments

CivilWarTriviaFilter. This was a question on a 'Millionaire' I recently watched, and it's been driving me nuts. There are *two* signatures on the Emancipation Proclamation: Lincoln's, of course, but also that of his Secretary of State, William Seward.

What I want to know is why. The Proclamation was a document dealing with domestic affairs. Why would the Secretary of State sign it, rather than, say, my guess, which was Stanton, the Secretary of War (since it only applied to where the Union Army occupied states in rebellion.) Google only confirms Seward's signature, not the reason. posted by mojohand at 12:36 PM PST - 12 comments

If I want to know where a certain website ranks for a particular Google search, is there anything I can do other than just scroll through every page of results until I find that page? For instance: This is on the 29th page of Google results for "Ask Metafilter." If I was Mr. or Ms. Ofrenda, would there be a faster way for me to learn than that simply looking on every page? posted by blueshammer at 11:30 AM PST - 3 comments

DNS hell! My Windows 2000 box seems to have some kind of DNS problem. Certain sites just 404 or time out. I know it's not my net connection, because other computers on my network can get to these sites. I've already renamed the hosts file and rebooted. I need to resolve this for a paying gig. Help! [more] [more inside]posted by scarabic at 11:11 AM PST - 16 comments

Thanks for all your help with the engagement ring question. I swear, on my MeFi account, it's not me...I'm just the reluctant best friend. Right...so I need some more ammo.

My friend is agnostic, his fiance is athiest...yet her family wants her to have a Jewish wedding...so much so, that they're again applying the pressure, and since she "feels" Jewish, even though she doesn't believe, she's going along with it. See, her parents won't go to a civil or catholic ceremony, and if they don't have a Jewish ceremony, there's going to be hell to pay. But, my friend's parents are staunch catholics, and while they would go to a Jewish wedding, they won't wear yarmulkes, and some of his family won't even attend.

My advice? Either insist on a dual ceremony, or just let her parents have their way, considering they're going to shell out the money. But on top of that engagement ring debacle, I'm afraid he's set too many precedents.

What the hell can my friend say to her parents to get them to lay off? If he puts his foot down, what can he expect from them? From her? Anybody marry into a domineering family? Anybody intermarry Catholics/Jewish?

We all know this is a downward spiral, and if he doesn't put his foot down, next it's going to be Hebrew school for the kids, etc. (oh yeah, they're also doing the "you're going to raise the kids Jewish, aren't you?" thing).

Oy Vey! If the parents just weren't involved, this entire engagement/wedding thing would be simple. [more inside]posted by taumeson at 10:47 AM PST - 87 comments

WashingCatFilter - My boyfriend suggested we wash the cat, his reason being, it will help her finish her summer shedding. Is this something that is ok to do once in awhile, or should we leave her alone? It's hard to wade through the lame google "Ha-ha-here's-a-joke-story-about-washing-a-cat." posted by agregoli at 9:34 AM PST - 33 comments

AdultToyStore Filter! Does anyone know what the markup is on sex toys and/or naughty apparel? In the great American tradition of business, I've been toying with the idea of opening an establishment in an industry I know nothing about. Unfortunately, my back-of-the-envelope feasibility analysis is foundering because I don't know what kinds of margins to predict on sales. Additionally, does anyone know a toystore owner/operator who'd be willing to give advice/guidance on the pitfalls of this kind of business? posted by anonymous at 6:05 AM PST - 14 comments

I've been trying to get a job in a city 90 miles from my current residence, but not having much luck. Part of the problem is that I'm new to the management class and not really familiar with how job hunting is done; part of the problem is that my degree is irrelevant to my current and prospective work. [emm eye] [more inside]posted by yesster at 5:48 AM PST - 8 comments

May 25

I have 11 hours in Newark on the 6th. It's a layover, I have no contacts in the immediate area and although things are getting better, I would like a nice diversion that is not in the airport or Newark itself. Suggs?

I have a serious problem. I've managed to screw up rather badly, and have lost a $10,000 scholarship. I don't have a job and my rent/food/everything money is from student loans and is carefully budgeted to run out with the end of the spring semester. I need a job but I live in a city where the largest employer is the post office. I have 5/8ths of a BA in English. My resume is none-existent. The last paying job I had was almost two years ago. I worked at a McDonald's for the federal minimum wage. Between now and the end of August I need to either earn $13,000 ($3k to live on, the rest for school), or find a career that has long-term security. I'm quite frightened, actually. I have several skills but no evidence—references, resume, awards, etc.—to prove it. Short of committing a crime, which I will not do, does anyone have any practical advice? A brief list of skills I possess are inside. [more inside]posted by Grod at 11:08 PM PST - 31 comments

I want the CPAN shell to install modules it's done building to a directory other than /usr/lib/perl5blahetc (largely because I am not root on this particular server and won't be). This being perl I'd be _highly_ surprised if there's no way to set the installation directory, but a quick perusal of the CPAN shell settings gives no such option. Nor does a similarly quick perusal of ~/.cpan/. [more inside]posted by namespan at 9:04 PM PST - 6 comments

Can anyone help me find demographics for New York and Vermont in and around 1936. Specifically, I'm interested in the racial makeup on both states and especially in New York City. The census website confuses me a little, does anyone know a good link or reference for this specific, query? posted by Slimemonster at 7:43 PM PST - 2 comments

I'm sure I remember some software once existed that could speed up an mp3 file but keep the pitch constant (ie. avoid the 'chipmunk' effect you get when you speed up sound). Does anyone know where I might find something like that (for Windows)? posted by reklaw at 6:39 PM PST - 6 comments

SkateFilter! Recommendations, please: good in-line skates, wheels, and accessories for skating in DC? My skating environment alternates between urban streets and sidewalks on work days to well-paved bike trails on weekends. I prefer high speed to tricky maneuverability, though I will wish to jump the occasional crack, twist a quick turn-stop, or negotiate tight curves. [more inside]posted by brownpau at 3:32 PM PST - 7 comments

I'm about to get a massage from a friend who runs her own one-employee (herself) massage business. When I pay her fee (which all goes to her), should I add a tip too? I never know how much of tipping is about "here's something for YOU since the bulk goes to management" (not true in this case), and how much is about, "I know you SAID the price is $50, but you should get a little extra because you did such a good job." [more inside]posted by grumblebee at 2:38 PM PST - 13 comments

A few days ago, my computer froze up (no big deal), but when I rebooted, my hard drive couldn't be detected. The drive died with absolutely no warning. I tried various methods to get the OS to find it, with no luck. Two technicians have since looked at the drive and conluded it's a physical problem and that it's toast.

Who's had the same experience and what did you do? posted by davebush at 1:38 PM PST - 7 comments

Do British magazines and newspapers use the same query letter system we use in the United States for story proposals? If not, how do you get a British editor to pay attention? posted by inksyndicate at 1:34 PM PST - 4 comments

Is there any way to remove background images from a PDF file? I downloaded some documentation for the Mambo Server, and it has an incredibly annoying, large, pixelated orangeish logo as a BG on every page, which doesn't help readability one bit. Have tried inserting a new white background in Acrobat, but it ends up behind the original one. posted by signal at 12:41 PM PST - 7 comments

So I was told I have a little cancer. Which is okay. I've got the treatment/doctor thing covered, and don't really need medical advice. What I'd like to know is if anyone here has gone through the C-word, and if they have a list of things they wish people had told them from the start or ideas/tips that they figured out for themselves to make this easier. Thanks kindly. posted by FunkyHelix at 12:35 PM PST - 16 comments

I have both a DVD-ROM drive and a DVD-R drive in my Wintel computer. I am interested in making backup copies of some of the (copy-protected) DVDs I own. Up to now I have been tusing DVDShrink to trim down disks where necessary, and then using the IMGTool/DVD Decryptor combo to make the ISO/burn it. So in all that's a 2-step process, each step of which takes upwards of an hour. Is there a (hopefully free) software solution out there that I can set up, go to bed, and when I come down for breakfast, the disk in the top drawer is a copy of the one in the bottom drawer? posted by luser at 12:15 PM PST - 4 comments

I've got a file on my pc which won't go away. I was infested with the Zestyfind adware a couple of months ago. Ad-aware managed to get rid everything but a .dll file (the name for which I'm posting inside the thread). Each time I run adaware it deletes the file or tells me it will next time I reboot, but even after that there it is still. Until now it would load up a window with some advert on. Now it's started crashing explorer instead because of an error accessing said .dll (I've tried using other browsers and it still happens -- it must be just because I'm online). Anyone got any ideas because this is driving me up the wall. [more inside]posted by feelinglistless at 11:37 AM PST - 12 comments

Ok folks, show me your whimsical side. My wife is quite a gardener and she's always out there bending down, pulling weeds, digging, etc. I thought it would be fun to occasionally stick things under the plants for her to stumble upon. Star Wars figures having tea, little elves napping, Lego construction crews, small billboards with cute signs, etc. I want to make it look like there's a little community of miniature garden people living in the dirt. I know she'd appreciate the effort. I need more ideas. [more inside]posted by bondcliff at 9:43 AM PST - 37 comments

Major Sony warranty problems. My friend purchased a laptop on May 14, 2003. For some time it had random reboots. I told him to call Sony, which he did and they told him to reinstall Windows, which he did. This did not solve the problem. On May 16, 2004 (2 days after the warrant expired) I called Sony to tell them they never resolved the initial problem. They told me that in their records he called in for a "NTDLR missing", which may have been one of his problems reinstalling Windows but he definitely called in for the random reboot (or he would never had reinstalled Windows). So of course when I call in on May 16, describing the problem Mr. English-As-A-Second-Language insists that it's a different problem now occuring, and won't talk to me at all without charging me. (Gasp, breaking my own rule, more inside). [more inside]posted by geoff. at 9:32 AM PST - 8 comments

Line trimmers. I'd like to go with an electric line trimmer, but they don't seem to have the same amount of torque as the gas variety. Does anyone have experience with a very robust, torquey electric line trimmer? It has to be able to cut through blackberry bushes, for example of growth it needs to whack down. posted by grefo at 9:17 AM PST - 3 comments

Is it possible to get allergies (or an allergy to dust and pollen in the weather) in just one eye? I have heard it has to be in two, but does that mean both two sides are equally irritated? Has anyone here ever had allergies in just one side of their face? posted by Peter H at 8:19 AM PST - 10 comments

I'm looking for advice on creating and maintaining a large multi-lingual website--or rather, a large English-only site that's going multi-lingual soon, once we start capturing our users' language preferences via a self-registration form and putting that into a cookie. Or is it better to detect the browser's settings? Or something else? Any book suggestions? First-person accounts? Suggestions of great websites that implement multi-lingual capability in novel or especially nice ways? [more inside]posted by Asparagirl at 12:28 AM PST - 11 comments

May 24

I need an environmentally safe weed killer. My house is overrun with weeds and I live 100 yards from a water source for 2 million people. I could RoundUp and not worry but my conscious is heavy, but the weeds are gaining ground daily. posted by stbalbach at 8:39 PM PST - 24 comments

Any recommendations for a comfortable, large-capcity backpack I can use to haul 30 lbs. of books and some clothes around the West Coast this summer? [more inside]posted by josh at 7:08 PM PST - 12 comments

Search engine optimization... I'm happy to buy a book, but are they worth it? Do I really need to know more than the basic best-practices for Google? [more inside]posted by o2b at 6:14 PM PST - 3 comments

The catalytic converter on my 97 Ford Escort blew out today, and I suspect it ruptured part of the exhaust works in front of the muffler. I can find out how much parts cost on my own, but I'm not going to be doing the service myself, so could someone knowledgeable in the realm of automotive repair hazard a ballpark guesstimate as to how much this might cost me to fix? I just need a general idea so I can figure out how much blood to sell to pay for the repairs. posted by headspace at 5:14 PM PST - 4 comments

When I open the doors and windows sometimes these little gnats/flies come in and proceed to fly in small circles in the center of the room. I am sure many of you are familiar with this. What are they? Why are they doing this? (more inside) [more inside]posted by vacapinta at 3:15 PM PST - 14 comments

Anyone have a good method of cooking Papads/Pappadam? (Care to clue me in on the proper word while you're at it?) I've tried laying them on a hot frying pan and baking them: on the frying pan, they burned before they cooked nicely; I don't remember what happened when I tried the oven but I do know it wasn't successful. At this point, I'm holding them over the open gas with two tongs. This is awkward, time-consuming, and worse - quite dangerous! Some sites mention a microwave; has anyone had success with that? I don't have one but if it helps me get my delicious lentil crispies more easily, I'll purchase one of the loathesome things. posted by mimi at 3:02 PM PST - 22 comments

The ultimate act of defiance? Just now on Air America Radio, Randi Rhodes described a poster / pin design that was common in the 1960s that featured a mouse giving the finger to an eagle, with a caption that said "the ultimate act of defiance". Any idea where I might find an image of this? Googling didn't turn up much. posted by Space Coyote at 1:32 PM PST - 9 comments

There's already been a question on AskMe about engagement ring advice, but I'm looking for something a little different. My buddy just spent $10,000 on an engagement ring because his fiance is feeling the pressure of being a brand new attorney in NYC and wanting to look the part. He didn't want to, but he did it anyway, cause her family was giving her the "If he loves you, he'd spend the money" spiel and it was really getting to her.

What could he have done at that point? She's a great girl, just a little prone to doing what her family wants her to do, so "RUN" isn't an appropriate response. Also, what is an appropriate price? $10,000 is about two months salary, but it seems extreme.

Google's not really any help....strangers who I've interacted with (ala MeFites) are significantly better than strangers I have not (ala some random webpage). posted by taumeson at 1:25 PM PST - 84 comments

How do you read the first n lines of a file in PHP where the line lengths are variable and line n has '----------' on it (that is finding line n by pattern matching)? I see how to read the whole thing, but I only want a few lines of many files. (Has to work on Windows and Unix). Thanks. posted by pissfactory at 11:27 AM PST - 9 comments

I want to broadcast a single desktop to multiple computers for training purposes on our internal network. I looked at VNC, but it looks like that is only one-to-one viewing. Is there any software to accomplish this with a group (8-10 per session)? posted by benjh at 10:16 AM PST - 6 comments

Has anyone successfully installed "The Gimp" for Mac OS X? I've had no luck installing it, whether in handy .dmg form (it says that it can't open my X11.app, even though I have X11), or as compiled by "fink" (in which case it starts kvetching about xfree86 not being set up right.) What can I do to my X to make it accept and welcome The Gimp? posted by inksyndicate at 9:37 AM PST - 13 comments

Canine flea/tick preventative treatment? I have a rough and tumble pup (18 pounds, 18 months old). He's quite an outdoor companion, and I find ourselves walking more wooded trails this year. I expect fleas, and especially ticks, are going to be a concern this summer. I am staying completely away from Hartz in all shapes and forms. I am very open to the idea of natural/herbal/homeopathic flea and tick preventatives as long as they work well. I am also interested if anyone has any experiences with Frontline or Advantage. Whatever the treatment, it would have to withstand bathing, as he is groomed professionally once a month and usually is rinsed down or bathed at home once a week (depending on how much mud he gets into). I will consult with the vet before going ahead with anything, obviously, but would really appreciate any of your personal feedback. posted by jerseygirl at 9:06 AM PST - 15 comments

Issue 1: I cannot find where to add my password to be saved. Password Manager allows you to delete a password, to display saved p/ws, and display never saved p/ws. It does not allow me to add a p/w.

Issue 2: This only began to be an irritant last week. Till then, I never needed to put in my p/w to my incoming mail server [I reckon I must have done one time, then it was saved]. Why did Moz mail unsave it? Why does the p/w dialogue box not ask me if I want to save it again?

I like security - but I want Mozilla to 'do what it says on the tin' - save the p/ws that I tell it to!

I have what I think is a great idea for a web / design-related book that I'd like to shop around. Can anyone who has been published before offer any advice, links, or a good process to follow when pitching ideas to publishers? (more detail in comments) [more inside]posted by theNonsuch at 8:28 AM PST - 17 comments

Settle an argument, please. Spike Jonze directed a music video of Fatboy Slim's Weapon of Choice, featuring Christoper Walken as the droll businessman dancing through and around a huge hotel lobby. In the version available online at Astralwerks Records' site (scroll halfway down page; available in Real and Windows Media), the soundtrack includes vocals, as on the album. Now the question: has anybody (other than me...) seen this video with an instrumental soundtrack instead? I swear this version exists, I even recall wondering where the title Weapon of Choice had come from in lieu of any vocal clues. Sound familiar? Sound like I'm just nuts? TIA for any enlightenment on this obviously earth-shattering issue... posted by JollyWanker at 8:57 PM PST - 18 comments

I am looking to purchase a digital camcorder. Quality is important to me, and small size is too. Can anyone recommend a good camcorder in the $600 dollar price range? Can anyone suggest which video format is best? posted by yevge at 8:11 PM PST - 7 comments

Win2K - I had a risque pictue set as my desktop background. My in-laws are coming to stay for a week, and my machine is in the guest room. Since I already don't rate very highly with then, I swapped the background image to something very tame. However, during the startup process, the original image appears for a couple of seconds before being replaced by the new. Why does this happen, and how can I fix it? posted by Irontom at 6:57 PM PST - 15 comments

Bretagne_normandy_trip.doc[DELETED] :-( . My girlfriend work ruled a new summertrip for elpapacito : Marseille,Avignon,Carcassone and maybe Barcellona. Any recommendations on what to do, what to see ? posted by elpapacito at 6:40 PM PST - 18 comments

Suggestions for a good and economical (non-aluminum!) home espresso machine? (Google and the 'Net have plenty-o-suggestions, but the volume is overwhelming, and I have come to trust the personal experience of AskMe members.) [more inside]posted by Shane at 6:36 PM PST - 25 comments

My TiVo's modem died again. I'm not yet sure if I'll get an ethernet card for it. Got any cool suggestions as to what to do with the hardware? I don't mind non-PVR uses. posted by riffola at 5:31 PM PST - 0 comments

What are some good comedy albums to get? I recently purchased the two latest David Cross albums, as well as Bill Hicks "Rant in E Minor," and now I am hooked on this medium. Any suggestions? posted by Quartermass at 3:22 PM PST - 33 comments

I need ideas for a special at-home dinner. I want to cook a really special dinner for my wife. Something surprising and exciting. I am not an expert-chef, but I'm pretty good at following directions -- even complicated ones. One additional issue that makes this difficult: We're both on diets. We're not on any special diet; we're just trying to avoid anything with a gargantuan amount of calories. So, I need something exciting, romantic and healthy. posted by grumblebee at 10:11 AM PST - 12 comments

KittyFilter! I think Skinny broke a toe. I saw him take a fall and he's been limping on one foot since then. It's improved steadily, he can walk on it now (though gingerly) but I can see some swelling in one toe. Before you tell me to take him into the vet, please read the [more inside]. [more inside]posted by scarabic at 6:13 PM PST - 16 comments

I'm interviewing for a simple FrontDesk job at SpringHill Suites very soon (I think a branch of Marriott Hotels) and I just found out that it's a popular position to be applying for. What can I do to draw positive attention to myself so I stand out in the interviewer's mind? [more inside]posted by Slimemonster at 5:30 PM PST - 6 comments

Is there a way to get XP to shut itself down after a specified interval of time? (So I can run a task on autopilot that will take a couple of hours after I want to go to sleep, without the annoyance of waking up to the whine of the computer...) posted by kaibutsu at 5:26 PM PST - 4 comments

I haven't found an explanation for this anywhere. Does anyone know why all of Woody Allen's films have been released on dvd in mono? Is this a creative decision by Allen or something else? posted by feelinglistless at 5:03 PM PST - 2 comments

This summer I'll be traveling with an infant from New Jersey to Florida (Tampa Bay area/Tarpin Springs). I've gone to a few sites and picked up a book, but I was hoping for some personal tips/stories from parents that might not have been gone over before. Also, which would be better, traveling by car train or plane? Thanks! posted by FunkyHelix at 1:38 PM PST - 8 comments

So let's assume I own a house in MD. It's completely empty, clean, and requires no beautification. The catch is, I don't live anywhere near MD. What's the best way to find a buyer since I can't show the place myself? posted by SeizeTheDay at 11:05 AM PST - 9 comments

My Telecaster's fretboard is all crudded up. I know there are a bunch of commercial products out there to clean it, but wonder if I can use just regular furniture polish or windex instead? posted by signal at 10:11 AM PST - 10 comments

Speaking of NAV ... I just bought the Norton Security Suite and am about to install it. I lack a cruft cleaner (Norton's CleanSweep seems to be only available in a bundle I don't want). Thus: I'm looking at MacAfee's "QuickClean". I'm worried that it will trip over Norton's stuff since it appears they both monitor a few of the same things. posted by RavinDave at 2:27 AM PST - 0 comments

Every manual transmission car I've ever driven makes a strange high pitched whining noise when going in reverse at more than about ten miles an hour. They don't make the same noise at the same revs in any forward gear. So why the difference? These are UK / European transmissions if that makes any difference. posted by twine42 at 4:00 PM PST - 15 comments

I've got a cold. I've been drinking fluids and getting rest, but is there anything I can take that will actually help me get better? Also, what treatments are purely psychosomatic? I've always suspected echinacea. posted by capndesign at 10:58 AM PST - 13 comments

What does "normative" mean? Is it a useful word? I only ever see it used in obscure, academic writing, which makes me suspect it's worthless. How is it different from "normal"? My dictionary says it means, "Of, relating to, or prescribing a norm or standard: normative grammar." That sounds like "normal" to me, so why not just say "normal"? Can someone give me some clear sentences that use the word -- sentences that are not written in post-modern, complit speak? Can one use "normative" meaningfully in a sentence about real-world things, like butter, eggs or bricks? posted by grumblebee at 9:53 AM PST - 24 comments

Collected or filtered local culture/happenings... I know about upcoming.org. I'm wondering if there are other sites where people can find collected listings of events in their area. Basically I'm sick of missing concerts in my city (Toronto) because I forget to check the papers regularly. (I'm also interested in non-Toronto-specific sites.) posted by dobbs at 9:24 AM PST - 6 comments

Tradeweb is an unqualified success. Built in collaboration with eight major banks, it's a trading platform to facilitate the sale of bonds and other fixed-income assets. It's hosted over 46 trillion dollars in transactions. Yet this Reuters article says that Thomson just acquired the platform for between 500 million and a billion dollars - which seems like an impossibly low price. How is that possible? (from the give mark-cuban-a-login department) posted by djacobs at 6:41 AM PST - 4 comments

May 20

I recently became aware of a very serious copyright violation regarding copywritten material belonging to a family member being used on a for-profit website with no attribution. My relative wants to proceed legally, but is afraid that the site will get pulled down by its creator and there will be no legal evidence of the violation. Archive.org has not indexed the site. I have screenshots, but are those enough? posted by chaz at 3:45 PM PST - 14 comments

Ok, I saw a post here in the past year or so about some strange house a guy built. I believe it was in Florida and has something to do with mystery spots or the like. What I remember is that to this day no one can understand how he built it as some of the doors are 5 ton boulders that swing open with the slightest touch. Google search is coming up blank. Anybody remember the post? posted by daHIFI at 3:03 PM PST - 4 comments

Looking for a cartoon: in the introduction to Nicolas Slonimsky's "Lexicon of Musical Invective" he mentions an "anonymous cartoon printed by G. Schirmer in New York in 1869 under the title, 'The Music of the Future,' displays eight cats (labeled A, B, C, D, E, F, G, A), several donkeys, and a group of goats, as participants in a Wagnerian orchestra. The score on the conductor's stand reads: 'Liszt's Symphonic Poem.' Another score, at the conductor's feet, is marked: 'Wagner, not to be played much until 1995." I'd love to get a copy of this in any form or shape, or a lead to it in a printed book. posted by neustile at 2:45 PM PST - 5 comments

I'm looking for a cat-sitter in DC. Given that it scares me a bit to have someone coming into my home when I'm not there, does anyone have recommendations or things I should be looking at specifically? posted by occhiblu at 2:08 PM PST - 8 comments

I often see the idea "[this] is equal/equivalent to [that]" expressed in shorthand as [this] == [that]. That's pretty easy to grasp, and I've assumed that the double = is some sort of coder/geek thing. But what about "[this] is not equal/equivalent to [that]?" Is it !=, or would that be =|= or =/=? And what computer or mathmatical codeset is this pulled from? posted by me3dia at 2:00 PM PST - 23 comments

I just acquired an old Minolta 16 along with two rolls of B&W film. The film was in a sealed container with the expiration date marked May '78. Do I have any chance of getting workable pictures out of this thing? And is there something (longer exposure, or shorter?) one can do to compensate for expired film? posted by Aaorn at 1:59 PM PST - 5 comments

I recently competed in the College Bowl National tournament (check out www.collegebowl.com) and I'm kinda hooked on this academic competition thing now. Does anyone know of any competitions or clubs or groups in the Seattle area that deal with this kind of competition (College Bowl, NAQT, Quiz Bowl, etc.)? I don't want to have to wait a year to do this again. posted by Slimemonster at 1:58 PM PST - 5 comments

Cellphones these days: do they make ones that will store my contacts (not just phone numbers, but addresses as well) and my calendar? And that can be sync'd with my PC? And (and this is key) aren't too terribly expensive? posted by skryche at 1:43 PM PST - 10 comments

My grandmother wants me to find deals on high-end cosmetics for her. We've had luck on eBay before, but her latest particular request is coming up short for me. This question is two-part: 1) Where else can I look online/IRL for good prices on department store makeup? Google searches so far only point me to useless spam/ad sites or cheap chintzy makeup, and I can't think of anywhere to look IRL except outlet malls. 2) Cosmetics are hot business on eBay - I had no idea. How do you think these sellers get their stock? Are they employees with the privilege of ordering it wholesale through the store, perhaps? A lot of what's sold seems to be testers - is it possible to score some kind of deal at the counter for leftovers, if you're not an employee? posted by Melinika at 12:28 PM PST - 1 comment

How do small product review sites get a hold of all the products they review? For example, does DCResource actually spend $1599 in order to write this review? I understand that well-known media sources like CNET or Tom's Hardware Guide can get manufacturers to ship them evaluation units (to be returned after writing a review). But how do you go about getting to that point? And is there an on-the-cheap way of doing it without getting the manufacturer's help? A retail store with a realllly forgiving return policy, for example? posted by scarabic at 11:57 AM PST - 7 comments

For unknown or novice screenplay writers, which is the best tack in trying to pitch an idea for the first time? Should a tv pilot, for example, be submitted as a simple logline and treatment, or should a cover letter, story-bible, script and character synopsis also be provided? [more inside]posted by dhoyt at 11:30 AM PST - 10 comments

How do I clone a HD in a win2k system? My system's boot hd is a 20g 5400 rpm. I'd like to swap it for a 20 g 7200 rpm which is sitting at the moment in an external firewire enclosure. I also have 150g in an internal RAID array.

Every once in a while, when I search Google, I end up with some weird search results. All ads. It doesn't happen all the time and I don't know if it's Google stooping to a new low, or if it's me and some kind of adware. Note that I also get a pop-up window with this page that has a couple other ad links. [more inside]posted by MrAnonymous at 9:27 AM PST - 17 comments

Portable Air Con: My flat (apartment) is too hot when the weather's like this, and I'm looking to do something about it for the comfort of our new baby who's been a nightmare since the warm spell started. Anyone know if these things are any good? I here to avoid "air coolers", any other advice (and what is a 'mechanical air conditioner'?)... btw fitting proper a\c is out of the question because of planning regs)..... posted by brettski at 7:38 AM PST - 10 comments

I recently saw Assault on Precinct 13 again and was smitten for some inexplicable reason by actress Laurie Zimmer who played the character Leigh.
Anyway she disappeared from acting and director Charlotte Szlovak made a documentary called Do You Remember Laurie Zimmer? which is about looking for here in L.A. I have been unable to find out what happens in the film Do you Remember.... or what happened from any other source. Anyone remember her or know where she is. I am prepared for the mundande truth. posted by kenaman at 2:13 AM PST - 0 comments

May 19

With all of this talk about Gay Marriage in the media, I was examining to myself why, beyond romantic reasons, Marriage is desirable. I know many conservatives say that civil unions are as far as gays should be allowed to go, but what are the differences between civil unions and marriage? I heard on the Simpsons (a reliable source) that a man can not testify in court against his wife, would this be true for those in a civil union as well? posted by whoshotwho at 11:08 PM PST - 16 comments

Remember in the late 80s/early 90s when every car in the US (mostly imports, IIRC) had a motorized seat belt for the front seats? Why did that feature go away? Was it due to them breaking down? Being unsafe in accidents? Being annoying in general? I never really heard why they went away, I just sort of noticed they don't exist anymore. posted by mathowie at 9:47 PM PST - 22 comments

You're probably familiar with the online wizard where you answer various questions about a typeface, and it will identify the typeface for you. My question is this: Is there anything similar for plants, specifically flowers? [more inside]posted by oissubke at 9:33 PM PST - 6 comments

I'm going to LA for the first week of June to visit a friend. Unfortunately she wasn't able to get any time off that week so it looks like I am going to most of my sight seeing solo. I have a basic itinerary (Getty, Disney Concert Hall, Studio Tours, etc.) but is there anything off the beaten path that I shouldn't miss? Is there anything on the beaten path that I am better off avoiding? posted by lilboo at 8:07 PM PST - 27 comments

I am a bad singer, although I really like to sing; we are talking William Hung levels of badness. Are there any good books or online resources? Is it worth it to get voice lessons if I just want to not embarrass myself at church and at karaoke? And just how much singing talent is inborn? posted by Jeanne at 7:36 PM PST - 6 comments

I'm looking for a good PIM, to keep track of contacts and upcoming homework assignments I need to do. Preferably something free. Any suggestions of a good products for Windows? posted by Apoch at 7:03 PM PST - 1 comment

SmallBizFilter! A pal of mine has asked me to help him build out a small shipping-and-fulfillment center serving an online store he started recently. Things are going well, but my part of the work will be most challenging. Advice? Recommendations? [the interior features the more.][more inside]posted by mwhybark at 6:06 PM PST - 3 comments

My grandmother died last night after enduring 12 years of Alzheimers disease. When I spoke to my family this evening it was mentioned that there would be a luncheon after the funeral. I've only been to one other funeral in my life and that was not part of it. Sorry for the flippancy of this post, but I have a lot emotions all over the place right now, but to me a luncheon seems to be the height of tacky. Has anyone ever heard of this / done this before? posted by pieoverdone at 5:55 PM PST - 29 comments

In the first half of The French Connection, Gene Hackman's character wakes up after being face-down on a bar (the barman is starting to mop up, very early in the AM it looks like), picks up his hat and walks out of the bar. The bar is underneath what looks like the Brooklyn Bridge. Is/was this a real place? Can anyone ID the intersection? (This is right before he starts following the pink-wearing bicyclist girl & ends up handcuffed to his bed by her - the next scene has Roy Scheider visiting Hackman in his tenement apartment and unlocking the cuffs.) posted by luriete at 4:09 PM PST - 9 comments

DVD reading problem. One of my backup DVD-Rs refuses to read - Nero disc info says it has 1 session and 1 track at 4.6Gb UDF (mode 1). My DVD-ROM is an Lite-On 411s, but I think it was burnt on an LG 4040b. Any tips on getting the movies off the disc? posted by Mossy at 3:17 PM PST - 1 comment

Cussing kids. My sweet little baby girl (8) cut loose with an unbelievable string of profanity when she got off the school bus today. I was actually embarrassed, and believe me, that takes a lot. I have no idea where it came from. We don't speak like that and her peer group consists of exactly one child (very small school). I didn't even know she knew these words. Besides grounding her forever (done) and I have no idea how to best to address this. posted by cedar at 12:17 PM PST - 47 comments

Dot-com fraudster whose company name I can't remember: Despite Google searches, I've been unable to find more on a scam I remember from the '90s. It was a guy who claimed to have a new display technology, but after a lot of investment it was revealed that the technology didn't exist. Who was it? posted by inksyndicate at 11:38 AM PST - 8 comments

After reading up on this MeFi FPP, I began to wonder about the word comptroller. The dictionary does provide its etymology (just another variant of "to count" being "to compt"), but what I want to know is why this particular office in American cities is called such. Is this office the same name as that in other countries? Perhaps in the UK? Why do we call them comptrollers and not just controller? posted by linux at 11:29 AM PST - 11 comments

I've never owned or used a palm-top or hand-held computer before, but I've always thought they were cool. Lately I've realized that what I really want is a hand-held commodore 64; in other words, a cute device with a keyboard, that I can whip out and program quickly and easily. The keyboard, and the ability to edit and run programs, are my two real criterion.

Does anyone know of a device (other than a PC laptop) that fills the bill? posted by Emera Gratia at 10:38 AM PST - 21 comments

Speaking of movie scripts, recently a concept for one barged it's way into my head - without even wiping it's feet. There it was. I assume that, in such cases, it's who you know that is important. So - not knowing anyone - I wonder if I should bother (more inside), but I do feel like developing it a bit. Should I noodle out the minutia of dialogue or simply focus on the broad concept ? [more inside]posted by troutfishing at 9:56 AM PST - 20 comments

I just picked up a second monitor and am running in dual-monitor mode, but my video card also has a VIVO tv-out port which I connect to my TV. Are there video players like BSPlayer/vlc that will output to the TV, without having to swap it back in as a "secondary" monitor? posted by Big Fat Tycoon at 9:49 AM PST - 1 comment

I once found a site that had humourous movie scripts, abbreviated with snarky dialogue added in. Some of the scripts were brilliantly funny (The Matrix is one I remember in particular), and I can't for the life of me remember the name of the site and I don't have it bookmarked. I had thought the word abbreviated was in the title, but a google using that term and movie scripts didn't yield any results, neither did a lot of guesses about what I thought the site was called. Help? posted by Cyrie at 9:36 AM PST - 3 comments

Someone is spoofing email -- making it look like it's coming from me -- and offering to sell people computer equipment. It looks like this is a scam to collect ebay ids. I know about this because one of the guy's emails was returned to me (it couldn't get through to the person he was sending it to). I have his email address. Can I do anything? [more inside.] [more inside]posted by grumblebee at 9:31 AM PST - 6 comments

Another NYC Real Estate Question: the SO and I, who have always lived in charming smallish walk-ups with leaky tubs/peeling paint in Queens-like proximity to 'the big city,' have been seduced by the siren song of new construction downtown. With their pre-opening rent breaks, brand-new appliances, and convenience to both work and play, these "luxury buildings" appear to offer a whole new standard of living at an attractive price. However, ... [mi] [more inside]posted by hsoltz at 9:25 AM PST - 8 comments

Before I spend the $9.95 or whatever to purchase a MS approved plug-in for Media Player, are there any good AND free utilities available to convert music files from WMA to MP3? posted by tr33hggr at 8:42 AM PST - 3 comments

Licensing of 'abandonware' or classic video games... has anyone heard of any company or individual that was able to rerelease an old video game? If so, what kind of agreements were made with the original company with regards to royalty payments and upfront fees? posted by sleslie at 8:48 PM PST - 7 comments

I use a Macintosh and want to hook up my Vonage VOIP service to an Airport Base Station but I'll need to purchase a router first. I would also would like to invest in a new TiVo Home Media system (for cable tv) but I'm worried that I'll run into problems when TiVo wants to dial out. Any recommendations on which router I should purchase before I set out on this new adventure in wireless networking? posted by argus at 8:17 PM PST - 5 comments

I'm in the process of teaching 1984 by George Orwell and, as we near the end of Book Three and are shown the horrors of Room 101, the question always arises: why do we use the number 101 to designate an introduction to a subject? What is the origin? posted by ronv at 5:46 PM PST - 11 comments

Bicycles. I know nothing about them outside of the obvious 2 wheels and chain part. I need a bike. Not a fancy bike. A sturdy bike. A bike that can handle a wiggly 30+ pound toddler on the back...in a seat, preferably...or maybe something that can be towed behind a bike? Recommendations for bikes? Recommendations for kid seats? posted by dejah420 at 4:38 PM PST - 24 comments

Any advice for building awesome bookshelves? I'm moving into a new, small apartment, have a ton of books, and need to build some fairly easy, but also nice-looking, bookshelves for cheap. If they're adjustable, that's even better! [more inside]posted by josh at 3:40 PM PST - 28 comments

Hopefully this hasn't been asked yet... my Google toolbar is seemingly less able to block popups like it did before. This is happening at home and work. What's the reason and what's a more efficient blocker? Is this happening to anyone else? posted by moonbird at 3:10 PM PST - 15 comments

Can anyone point me in the direction of an internet site or book that describes history's wars in an objective, detailed, yet concise way? [more inside] [more inside]posted by Slimemonster at 2:54 PM PST - 9 comments

Well some of us college-age mefites aren't as sophisticated as some of you. My friends and I are planning a similar getaway to a private lake house in the middle of nowhere (read: no cellphone coverage/landline phones/cable tv). Late at night, after a hard day of fishing, football and fun... and after the poker we'll be playing drinking games. There's a deep problem of none of us remembering any. Any good, preferably card-based ones? posted by geoff. at 2:54 PM PST - 22 comments

Beat the Profs: I asked all my music professors this one, and none have an answer. Why is Western music based around C major rather than A major? (More inside) [more inside]posted by Phatty Lumpkin at 2:25 PM PST - 15 comments

On Mac OS9 I could quit the Finder to get an extra little performance boost when I played games (first person shooters mostly). Will this trick still work for OSX, or has all the new fangled technology made it obsolete? posted by ssmith at 1:31 PM PST - 5 comments

GMail: How reliable is it so far? Has anyone noticed glitches? Has anyone else sent a message to multiple addressees and had only the first addressee of the list (separated by commas) receive the e-mail? Just how beta do you think it is right now? [more inside]posted by Shane at 12:34 PM PST - 15 comments

Carfilter: I have a 1988 VW Golf GL that currently costs me about $85/month in repair costs. In other words, I'm finding myself putting about $3-400 dollars into it every 3-4 months. The car has 60k miles on a transplanted eight-valve Scirocco engine. And the steering is getting mushy. And I have no real mechanical skills.

If I take the $6k that I could spend on a newer car and put it into the VW, and I just going to end up with a pimped-out VW that still needs spendy repairs every 3-4 months?posted by mecran01 at 12:28 PM PST - 19 comments

Something I've never understood. It takes a giant rocket to achieve escape velocity and leave the Earth. The Apollo mission made it all the way to the moon. But in all the pictures I've ever seen, the only thing they've got on the moon is a lander, a small capsule on legs. Where's the rocket they used to get off the moon? How did they get off the moon? I know the moon is much smaller and has almost no atmosphere, but is leaving it really as easy as firing a few booster rockets? Why is the rocket to leave the Earth so much bigger? posted by scarabic at 11:06 AM PST - 29 comments

Prompted by the unsolved codes thread in the blue, I'm trying to remember the name of one that I didn't see there. I think I read about it on MeFi at some point. ISTR that it took (takes?) the form of annual ads in a college newspaper (out west somewhere?) on a given day. For some reason May Day is stuck in my head, but googling for it doesn't reveal anything. This went on for several years, and may still be occuring, but no one has ever figured out what it's all about. Does this ring any bells for anyone? My google fu is failing, and I'm going bonkers! posted by jammer at 11:01 AM PST - 4 comments

Is there a way to collect all your different site wishlists into one place OR into one list that you can then keep on your own site? Am I imagining the future or is this already out there? It seems like I've seen it before, but I can't for the life of me remember where. posted by nramsey at 10:31 AM PST - 4 comments

I'm in 11th grade and my school is WAY to strict about the web sites kids go to. They get mad at me for going to sites like this, I think that its ridiculous. So I wanted to know if there was a site out there (for free) that would get past our site blocking software. Our school uses Novell Border Manager and I'm guessing one of the newer versions, they don't tell us. I'm looking for a free web site that will hide where I go and the IP that I'm going to. I just want my internet back! Thank you! posted by meatpuff at 8:48 AM PST - 39 comments

We all know that folks with high cholesterol should avoid fatty foods. But what about those of us with freakishly low cholesterol? (more inside) [more inside]posted by MrMoonPie at 8:13 AM PST - 6 comments

Portraits. Desperately trying to think of a suitable present for my parents' Ruby Wedding, we came up with the idea of a family portrait. Photography would probably be safer, but how to find something distinctive (they already have a portrait from about 20 years ago, with us looking uncomfortable in "best" clothes, printed on "canvas", all in a heavy gilt frame, bleagh)? Alternatively, how do you arrange for painted portraits (hopefully in a style everyone likes, and is it horribly expensive)? To make things more complicated, we'll only be visiting for a few days, normally living the other side of the world (they're near Leeds, northern England). Advice? Recommendations? posted by andrew cooke at 7:28 AM PST - 7 comments

Being endlessly frustrated with a new computer game (City of Heroes) refusing to work with my laptop (Dell Inspiron 5150), I am considering buying a new laptop. While I know what I want for most of it, the option of a Pentium M vs Pentium IV chip confuses me. The M clocks in in the 1.~ range while the other is 3.~+. Which is faster? Which should I get for a gaming laptop? posted by robocop is bleeding at 7:06 AM PST - 14 comments

I have completely embraced the online world...and have come to order many items online - which means lots of deliveries at home, parcels, packets - big envelopes (including 20 pieces of vinyl a week for my DJ work...)

So I get home deliveries 3/4 times a week - sometimes more - and I'm always at work... I'm looking for a device/contraption that sits outside my house (securely) that will allow postmen and couriers to leave items, that only I can recieve. The normal mailbox is too small for most items.

I know I saw one of these on UK TV programme some time ago, but googling has not helped...any postmen know what I'm on about? Or anyone seen anything similar? posted by mattr at 6:17 AM PST - 10 comments

So Lucent got fined yesterday, to the tune of mamny millions of dollars, byt the SEC for the criminal euphemism of Account Irregularities.
Like other high profile SEC investigations, why do they always mention the fine, but never discuss where the funds go?
Are they used to offset the defrauded investor's losses? Or does the gov't turn the investor's loss into it's gain by keeping the fine for its own purposes? posted by Fupped Duck at 5:35 AM PST - 3 comments

I went on a date with this girl tonight, and I swear she looks just like this actress on this tv sitcom I used to watch. Problem is, I can't remember the name of the actress or the show. It was on mid-90's, probably comedy central. During the intro, the protagonist of the show watches old tv shows as a child, and during the show, set in his adult life, clips from the old shows add color to his frequent romantic encounters. I believe the actress played his ex-wife on the show. A little help? posted by Phatty Lumpkin at 2:57 AM PST - 17 comments

May 17

Tips for finding a temporary apartment in NYC? A friend and I both have internships in NYC this summer, and need housing. I've tried craigslist, but have discovered that most of the listings get a huge number of replies, and its hard to secure a place when you are not already in New York. [more inside] [more inside]posted by reverendX at 8:13 PM PST - 8 comments

A question for the Latinists. I want to translate "that{'s, tastes} good, but have you had it with butter?" into Latin, which I haven't studied in two years (and no composition practice in three). Little help? [more inside]posted by kenko at 7:28 PM PST - 8 comments

Ok, this may sound strange, but something has always bothered me. On Seinfeld, there was a recurring character named "Rebecca De Mornay". She was a large black woman and made sure to clearly state her full name, as if it was a joke we were supposed to get. Does anyone know what that was all about? Why Rebecca De Mornay? Did she offend Jerry in some way? I'm sorry if no one cares about this question. [more inside]posted by loquax at 5:08 PM PST - 17 comments

My phone company has not sent me an invoice for almost three years. Now they are shutting my phone off, and I don't think it is fair. What should I do? (more details inside) [more inside]posted by tlong at 12:40 PM PST - 33 comments

I'm looking to pick up a flat panel display, at least 20", and I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations or opinions based on LCDs they own currently? What are the salient things to look for, particular to LCDs? I doubt I'll be using the flat panel much for 3D gaming, but I want something that won't artifact at all? I'm looking for something in the mid-range, price-wise, but obviously the cheaper, the better. Thanks. posted by Big Fat Tycoon at 11:53 AM PST - 15 comments

I need to order a handful of office phones but it's very difficult to find a reputable dealer. Price is not the first concern; some assurance that they honor the warranties (in case of DOA phones) and that they don't sell refurbished equipment as new would be wonderful. Does anyone know of a trustworthy source for telecom equipment? posted by sudama at 9:19 AM PST - 1 comment

When shopping around at Best Buy and Circuit City, I've been told that for Dell desktops (Dimension 4500 to be exact), generic RAM will not work and must be bought directly from Dell. Does anyone else out here have prior experience in upgrading their Dell's RAM and can support/debunk this? posted by jmd82 at 9:16 AM PST - 11 comments

Colin Powell forces resumption of interview - linked via boingboing, but the clip seems to have been removed from Lisa Rein's Radar. What's more, the MSNBC site insisted that I be running Windows to see their streaming version of the program. Anyone have a mirror of Lisa's clip or know where I might view it? posted by aladfar at 8:54 AM PST - 6 comments

Anyone know where I can find some good discussion/analysis about last night's fantastic episode of The Sopranos? alt.tv.sopranos is full of people who hate the show, and the posts to TWOP's forum are always way too long for me to get anything useful out of them. posted by emptybowl at 8:42 AM PST - 12 comments

LawnAndGardenFilter: When they built our neighborhood last year, the builders gave us Bermuda grass and our neighbors St. Augustine grass. Now the neighbor's very healthy St. Augustine is, of course, sending runners all over my lawn. What's the best way to stop this lush green menace? posted by vraxoin at 8:19 AM PST - 2 comments

Several years ago, I had a photocopy of a cartoon entitled "Why the Neanderthals Became Extinct". There were two Neanderthals, one saying "I don't know, it just seemed easier when we went hunting" and the other one replying "Yes, but Og assures us this will keep us ahead of those Cro-Magnons in the valley". The rest of the cartoon was an insanely complicated hunting plan, with boxes and arrows and stages like "Hunt Readyness Review". I've been looking for a copy of this cartoon for years now. I don't suppose anybody knows what the hell I'm talking about? posted by salmacis at 3:45 AM PST - 6 comments

May 16

Electric/electronic accordions. What do they sound like? How's the volume control? Is there any recorded music they've been used it? Are they good for moderately experienced keyboardists who've never played accordion but think they're really cool (especially the auto-transpose stuff)? [more inside]posted by Tlogmer at 10:04 PM PST - 5 comments

Mozilla question. I recently got a new computer and have installed Mozilla 1.6 for my browsing pleasure. I've been using Moz on the old box for over a year now, and I have many many username/password combos saved. I can't seem to find a way to transfer them over to the new system. Where are they stored? [more inside]posted by sauril at 7:21 PM PST - 5 comments

May 15

I'm trying to find the counts of various colors in an image, preferrably in order of frequency of use. I'd like to select a photo and BAM! see a list of all the colors used, in order. Can anyone recommend any software or techniques for doing this? posted by oissubke at 10:52 PM PST - 11 comments

I'm looking for a set of decent, inexpensive (under $200.00) golf clubs. I'd like to buy new, and I'll probably use them 2 or 3 times a year. Any recommended brands? Ones to avoid? posted by pjhagop at 8:32 PM PST - 9 comments

I've been reading a little about the cicada thing going on and I was feeling a little left out, since they're not gonna really visit us in Seattle too much. It seems like the cicadas and the El Ninos and the tornados and floods never focus on us. Thankful as I am, does anyone know of any environmental event that I can look forward to here (you know, besides that 10.5 earthquake that's been plotting to knock over the Space Needle). posted by Slimemonster at 6:50 PM PST - 18 comments

A browse through the frozen food aisle of my local grocery store shows me all kinds of prepared foods from well known restaurant chains. Buffalo Wings from T.G.I.Fridays, BBQ Chicken Pizza from California Pizza Kitchen... what I want to know is, when I go to the actual restaurant chain and order the same products, are they just doing what I'd be doing if I bought the store-bought product? Is the "chef" at California Pizza Kitchen actually making my pizza to-order, or is he pulling a frozen pie out of his freezer, and popping it in the oven? posted by crunchland at 3:56 PM PST - 11 comments

In the last three days I've had 150 emails - 140 of which have been message failures from AOL. They think I've been sending spam emails from random addresses on my domain to random addresses on their domain.

Strangely, I've had no complaints from people about how I am spamming them, but the domain is non-obvious and not advertised on the web. What the hell is happening? posted by twine42 at 10:53 AM PST - 6 comments

Sweatshop free clothing ? - Are there any major chains or stores can I can go to to try on ethically produced clothing? (as opposed to buying mystery products online which might or might not fit). Or do all major chains/stores buy clothes from producers who have equally dismal labor practices? posted by troutfishing at 5:32 AM PST - 13 comments

Having just read this, I'm left wondering how to respond to this message from someone wanting to rent my house for the month of April:Thanks for your acceptance to allow me and my wife use your home for our honey moon with the hope that it will be most memorable.
I am a sailor and presently i am in deep waters but however I will be sending you a cashier's check of $8,400 after which you will deduct the cost of your rental for 4weeks and have the excess amount sent to the agent that will be responsible for my transportation especially since i will be visiting the states for the first time and i earnestly solicit for your cooperation.
please i will want you to provide me with the following information so that payment will be forwarded to you without delay.
1.Your full names to be on the payment.
2.Your direct contact address.
3.Direct telephone number with which you can be reached any time.
Thanks,
larry.posted by alms at 4:59 AM PST - 17 comments

I'm trying to make a logo. It might be for a design company (tho if I can't design a logo I don't see how I could reasonably expect to make money designing), or maybe it'll be for a blog, perhaps I'll put it on cards — the end use doesn't matter, I've decided having a personal logo is cool. MeFi designers, please vote and critique the three images [inside] [more inside]posted by Grod at 9:57 PM PST - 36 comments

Is it safe to leave your house key in the lock on the inside of your door? I always do this so I know where my keys are, but I've always wondered if doing so makes it easier for the lock to be bypassed by ill-intentioned citizens. Should I store my keys somewhere else? posted by grateful at 8:19 PM PST - 6 comments

I find the burn-outs of MeFi-past absolutely fascinating. Is there a good way to find/read the threads involved, or do you have links to excellent examples of MeFites losing their marbles? [more inside]posted by graventy at 6:15 PM PST - 64 comments

Not to drag the current MovableType Love-fest over to AskMe, but I was wondering if any of the lawyers out there would be able to explain why this provision is in the new license:

Making Copies. You may install the Software on only one (1) computer or server having a single CPU. You may make one (1) copy of the Software in any machine readable form solely for back-up purposes, provided you reproduce the Software in its original form and with all proprietary notices on the back-up copy.

Editors, tech-savvy folk, and grammar-obsessives, please help. I've been arguing about this with my fellow editors: Is it acceptable, in nontechnical copy, to drop the "http://" from the beginning of a web address that doesn't have a "www" in its URL? [more inside]posted by cowboy_sally at 3:00 PM PST - 37 comments

I have been searching for a MetaFilter thread I remember reading about a year ago concerning (I think) words for sex in the Finnish language. As I remember, there were about seven words that don't quite translate into English for different types of encounters. Any help?
(Forgive me if this is the incorrect forum for this post) [more inside]posted by TurkishGolds at 2:51 PM PST - 8 comments

Looking to make some character-based cartoon animation in flash. What plugins, 3rd party apps, techniques, etc. have you used and would recommend? No dead tree literature, please, as I am far beyond the clutches of Amazon, and my local library is absolute crap. posted by signal at 11:00 AM PST - 4 comments

Art question: I'm trying to track down a painting I can barely remember. It was called something along the lines of "Seated figure with cosmic train" but I'm not sure. It featured a man sitting in a chair with various colors radiating from his head, which resolved themselves into an image of a train bearing down on him. I last saw it in a psychology textbook some years back, and I have no idea why I want to find it again. It just bugs me somehow. posted by aramaic at 10:34 AM PST - 2 comments

Is there a doctor in the house?
abdominal pain: left side, half way down between my groin and navel. Its keeping me up at night. Any ideas what it could be? posted by Tryptophan-5ht at 8:02 AM PST - 22 comments

May 13

Anybody know any book/movie recommendation i can make to a 16-year old, gay, African-American kid who's just "coming of age" though he hates that phrase. He's reading everything he can on the subject and looking for more. Fiction and non-fiction. posted by Slimemonster at 9:12 PM PST - 27 comments

Desperately seeking Eugene! I have three chilled beats dj mix mp3s downloaded freely via some designer site in 2000/2001, all "mixed by eugene". The titles of the 40 minute mp3s are "round midnight", "heavy build", and "looking forward". I can't remember if eugene is/was a pro dj or a talented hobbyist, but damn his music collection is fine, and I need more! posted by elphTeq at 6:32 PM PST - 0 comments

I'm all lost in the supermarket. I can no longer shop happily. Therefore, I am toying with the idea of home delivery. Has anyone in the Northeast used Peapod? What did you think? Anything I should know? posted by Mayor Curley at 5:58 PM PST - 9 comments

Since I de-sasser-wormed my Compaq machine and updated WinXPHome, I haven't been able to get Mozilla to work; re-installed it twice, re-downloaded 1.6 once, I get nothin' but little warning boxes saying "script error", that, after I un-installed Mo, now pop up when I start IE. Wendell sad. Wendell dumb. posted by wendell at 4:18 PM PST - 3 comments

Is it possible to export a path (or shape) from Photoshop 7 as a vector graphic? Or do I have to rasterize the path, open the file in Illustrator, and then autotrace the shape? (Please tell me the former is possible) [more inside]posted by Grod at 4:15 PM PST - 5 comments

I'm looking for recommendations for a good Gamecube game for my mother - definitely a non-gamer. She's still working on using a controller, so I'm figuring something simple and fun may be best. Any thoughts? posted by tirade at 3:36 PM PST - 22 comments

Plumbing question - you have a bath tub, free standing, with no shower; no switch to change between the water coming of the faucet vs from a shower head, and no shower curtain or support for such. How much (and what) would the parts be to add shower functionality? Is this a job that you could do by yourself? posted by GriffX at 2:53 PM PST - 7 comments

The W3C has invited Atom to create a formal working group as a part of their organization, as opposed to the IETF. What are the major differences, politically and historically, between the IETF and W3C? posted by djacobs at 1:56 PM PST - 2 comments

music type/genre question - the background track on this page from this site is wonderful stuff from a fellow named louis sclavis - while i like his stuff, i'm more interested in finding out what the specific style of the song used for the background track is? and if readers have any suggestions for more artists doing stuff in this style? posted by specialk420 at 1:55 PM PST - 9 comments

I'm currently developing a group weblog (personal project, non-commercial). My question is: if you could improve one thing about -- or add one feature to -- MetaFilter (or group weblogs in general), what would it be? posted by reklaw at 1:50 PM PST - 19 comments

Kayak recommendations... I have never been in a kayak, but have had a lot of experience in canoes. I want something that would be decent for a lake, but I plan on moving to Hawaii in about 2 years, so I would want it to be good for the sea too. Also storage would be nice to have too, so I can carry some equipment for some over-nighters. What about Wilderness Systems Tarpon 120 or 140? posted by maceo at 1:22 PM PST - 4 comments

Web browser cookies. Is it worthwhile to examine each one as it comes, or is the average person who fears cookies from unknown sources really wasting their time? Please attack or defend this. How do you find the balance between protecting your browsing history from marketers and surfing quickly and efficiently? Not looking for shaving tips. [more inside]posted by bingo at 1:13 PM PST - 10 comments

I know that there are no carbs in hard liquor (gin, vodka, etc), but why? I've been told that the carbs are burnt off in the distilling process, but I'd like to know exactly how that occurs. Weblinks are helpful. posted by Juicylicious at 11:43 AM PST - 6 comments

I live in San Jose, CA and I recently got a new (used) SV650S motorcycle. I am looking for tips with regard to doing some touring and/or camping using the bike.

Also, if you have any tips on how to have a more pleasant time getting to Yosemite and the rest of the Sierra than riding through the flotilla of bugs that is the central valley, I'm all ears. posted by gkostolny at 11:00 AM PST - 6 comments

I'm looking for high quality, reliable (since they'll end up having my credit card number) English-language sites that sell (and ship internationally) hard-to-find Japanese, Korean, Hong Kong movies on DVD. There are so many sites that seem to do that. What do you recommend? Also, tangentially related: is there an all-English-language version of the very interesting Amazon.co.jp? My Japanese is close to non-existent thanks posted by matteo at 10:46 AM PST - 12 comments

When my company discusses web design service with potential clients, they generally *always* balk and get ornery about the cost. Most of the time, we're working for small businesses, so understandably, $5-$10k is a substantial chunk of change for people to shell out. We don't get upset when we lose bids for being too expensive because we've always been taught that compromising our rate is not the solution... you simply can't meet everyone's budget. That being said, we turn away enough people who expect websites to cost $500-$1500 that I think there might be a market supportive enough to create solutions for. [come inside, won'tcha?] [more inside]posted by Hankins at 7:57 AM PST - 38 comments

Etiquette question: Do you tip movers? And if so, how much? I've hired 3 Men, 1 Truck for an across-town move that will probably take about 4 hours. The move is billed by the hour and the hourly rate is pretty steep, so I assume (hope) they get a decent wage. posted by FreezBoy at 6:28 AM PST - 16 comments

Looking for a job in Toronto. Specifically, it would be a job working with kids in some capacity, including social work, sports, education, whatever, but not a volunteer job, more of a career type job. Failing that, any kind of social work or advocacy would be good too. The question is, does anyone have experience looking (and hopefully finding) that sort of work? Regular job hunting sources have not been much use. Please help! And look inside! [more inside]posted by loquax at 9:35 PM PST - 2 comments

Invasive species plant Garlic Mustard .. This spring I harvested over 200 pounds from surrounding property and sent it to the landfill to rot. Has anyone eaten it before or have experience managing this invasive plant? posted by stbalbach at 8:25 PM PST - 4 comments

For my high school's senior research project, I'm considering doing research on vocal fingerprinting.
I'm looking for a free repository of samples of a number of people speaking the same set of things. Does this exist?
In a similar vein, my lab director is trying unsuccessfully to find suppliers for the Motorola 68008. We'd like a few dozen, but we'd be happy to get our hands on any. Anybody know where to get these? [more inside] [more inside]posted by mote at 7:09 PM PST - 7 comments

I have a logobar on my blogspot hosted weblog of a predetermined size. I'm quite bored with just having the same one pop up all the time so I'm wondering how easy it would be to load up a new bar randomly from a predetemined directory on another server (ie, the free space I have with my ISP where the currect static bar is located) each time the page is accessed ala hotornot. posted by feelinglistless at 3:48 PM PST - 3 comments

What is art? I mean, can someone explain to me how a couple rectangles thrown on a canvas is "art" and can sell for thousands of dollars? For that matter, that whole toilet scam just befuddles me - people actually fall for that and spend good money on it? Help me out here, what am I missing? Feel free to flame on this question. Let the debate begin. posted by beth at 2:55 PM PST - 57 comments

I've recently purchased a car (my first), and have, on occasion, used a laptop as an mp3 player, which is a serious insult to my real mp3 player. While I just purchased a new battery, I'd love to go on A/C alone: My question is whether there's any way to plug my laptop (or similar device) into a car cigarette lighter? posted by Sinner at 12:48 PM PST - 9 comments

anyone made their own speaker mounts for walls? i can't find any to buy here and am considering what i can make myself (i don't own a welder, but could buy one and have done welding in the past - i also have assorted woodworking/handyman tools). i'm assuming that a fairly rigid mount is important for sound quality, would like it to look good, probably be adjustable for toe-in, and the speakers are fairly large/heavy (b&w 602s2). advice, please. [more inside]posted by andrew cooke at 11:00 AM PST - 8 comments

Is there a resource I can use to find quasi-authoritative casualty figures for various wars and conflicts? Specifically, I need good estimates of the number of Somalis killed by U.N. forces during the 1992-93 intervention in Somalia. All I can find are scattered references to casualties associated with individual events within that time frame (e.g., the Blackhawk Down episode). posted by stonerose at 10:57 AM PST - 2 comments

Maybe this is midweek frustration speaking, but I am wondering if anyone knows what the average burnout/turnaround time is for helpdesk these days? Back in the day I remember hearing that it was about 6 weeks, but I wonder if other geeks like myself are putting up with more abuse for longer periods than we used to, as jobs are harder to come by these days. Google shows a lot of percentages, but I want to know how long people are sticking with the job before they run screaming from the building. posted by Watsonne at 10:50 AM PST - 9 comments

This is an extremely subjective question...In an earlier thread I mentioned that I couldn't find memory below $150, but several members here found it for much less. However, much of the cheaper RAM is generic. Does it matter? Is generic vs. brand name a big deal when dealing with RAM? posted by BlueTrain at 10:10 AM PST - 15 comments

How to find a DVD that will be playable on a region-free player if it's only been released in Russia? [This is the root menu; there is more inside] [more inside]posted by amandaudoff at 9:51 AM PST - 8 comments

What is the easiest and most economical (hopefully these aren't mutually exclusive) method of transferring funds from a US bank to a Canadian one? [more inside] [more inside]posted by Raze2k at 8:00 AM PST - 13 comments

Ever seen workspot? Know of any other services like this? Is this one any good? It looks good. I want to use it from the new job I'm moving to so that the company can't monitor my activities... email I'm reading, sites I visit, stuff I download. I'd rather not pay for this, tho if something free exists for my purposes.

I just want to start off on a clean slate at this new job. I would just VNC into my home box, but I have a dial-up, so that is impractical. Any other solutions to this problem? (I know I should be working at work, and I do... I also work at home and think about my job 24 hours a day.... however, I like to mix it up and don't want a record of my activities.) posted by pissfactory at 7:53 AM PST - 13 comments

May 11

I just graduated law school and have received a significant amount of money in graduation gifts. I'd like to "invest" the money in the market but I have no idea how to do that. I'd like to use online investment software that is very intuitive. Any suggestions? posted by adrober at 10:39 PM PST - 15 comments

Duh question: On OSX is there any neat way of interrupting that annoying, multicoloured spinning fan that tells you it's still trying to load a page, short of just rebooting? You know, to tell your computer you're no longer interested and would prefer to move on. Many thanks for any tips! posted by MiguelCardoso at 6:46 PM PST - 26 comments

Is there an easy-ish way to make things out of plastic? I had an idea for a fly-swatter-like contraption for catching spiders, and I have no idea how to go about molding something out of plastic. I know how to build out of wood, I can cut, bend, and weld metal, and I even have some idea how glass products can be crafted the old-fashioned way. But plastic? By "easy-ish" I mean: you can do it in your garage with the right tools and materials. posted by scarabic at 6:46 PM PST - 8 comments

iPods and refrigerator magnets don't mix. Or do they? I (accidentally) put an iPod in the same small backpack where, among books and other stuff, there was also (I didn't know that) an envelope with three small refrigerator magnets inside. the iPod seems to work fine. more inside[more inside]posted by matteo at 6:44 PM PST - 8 comments

Last Sunday I took my 7-year-old niece to the park. She said, "Bet I can swing higher than you." I said, "Bet you can't," and started swinging. I then got the most horrible, sickening, head rush/spins and had to stop. I tried repeatedly to swing, and even experimented with keeping my eyes shut, to no avail - got the head spins every time. Then later I went down the slide and got the same physical reaction, though not as intense. I've never had a problem with swings or slides before. What could this mean? posted by orange swan at 6:03 PM PST - 12 comments

My girlfriend inherited a couple of cemetery plots a few years back and has had them up for sale with a company ('Cemlot') that, for a one time fee, promises to keep them advertised 'til they're sold. No luck so far. We want to unload these things. Does anyone have any advice on selling plots? posted by item at 4:47 PM PST - 3 comments

Hey, Celestia users. I have a couple of questions about buggy textures, and I want your recommendations for plugins. I am on Celestia for OS X. More inside. [more inside]posted by brownpau at 3:28 PM PST - 5 comments

Fill in the blank: The best linux distro to install on an old laptop your parents want to use as a surfing/email station is __________. [more inside]posted by lupus_yonderboy at 2:11 PM PST - 17 comments

Ahh the pitter patter of little feet. Well, I can't hear the feet but I can see them. Every year around this time I get an ant problem. I would like to solve this problem and I would like advice on solving it.

Excel query. I have two Excel spreadsheets that I want to have automativally update each other. But, the format that they are in is generally incompatible. These are used as scheduling documents for the place where I work.

One spreadsheet is very wide. It lists each individual person at the top and their personal schedule below it. It lists breaks using "ONE" as the first half of a 30 minute block, "TWO" as the second half of a 30 minute block, and "LONG" as the entire 30 minute block.

The other spreadsheet is much less wide. It has 7 days listed and three columns. One is for "LONG" one is for "ONE" and the third is for "TWO." In each column, each person's name is entered in the appropriate block as defined in the first spreadsheet.

Can I get those two to talk to each other? Can I tell the first spreadsheet that if the word "TWO" is in a certain field to put the name of that person in another field on another spreadsheet? posted by ajpresto at 1:01 PM PST - 1 comment

I have 500+ CDs, and I'm thinking about indexing them so I know what I have (none were stolen in our recent break-in, but now I'm mindful of what COULD happen). What's the best way to do this? Make a database in a Microsoft program? Is there a free easy utility out there? Someone might have asked this already, if so, I apologize. posted by agregoli at 12:48 PM PST - 21 comments

I am researching different options for treating hypo-thyroidism. I personally have been taking Synthroid for a long time and would like to know what other routes, if any, are available. [More inside] [more inside]posted by vacapinta at 12:09 PM PST - 8 comments

His name is Dave Dunston. Or possibly Dunson. Or possibly some other variant that sounds similar; I've never seen it written. He is, or perhaps was, a British air traffic controller. Many years ago he gave a talk on air traffic control, and commercial aircraft in general, to a group of British bankers. Somehow it got recorded, and was broadcast on Max Ferguson's show on the CBC. It is definitely one of the funniest things I have ever heard. I managed to tape it, but the old cassette technology is dying a speedy death. I want another copy, preferably on a more dependable medium. Has anybody heard of this guy? Does anybody know how, or if, this air traffic control talk recording was released? Somehow it got into Max Ferguson's paws; I want it in mine. posted by DrJohnEvans at 10:36 AM PST - 8 comments

I am a freelance journalist, and a document freak. But also I am very chaotic. I would like to use some sort of database to keep track of the articles, documents, web snippets, references, quotes, URLs, bibliography that I use in my work. But I have many questions and doubts [more].

Should I use a database that it is linked to the external documents (which I keep nonetheless), or should I go for a database that has all of these documents embedded? I work in a Windows / OSX environment (desktop PC and a G4 Powerbook), so this keeps me from going all the way to Access (which I hate) or Filemaker (which I don’t know very well). I’ve been thinking of keeping a MySQL database server, maybe powered with a modification of something like Everything, and accessing the data via web browser, but I fear that the thing wouldn’t escalate well. (Keep in mind that I am not a programmer, I can install Movable Type or GeekLog in my webserver, and tinker a little with php files changing little things here and there, although I have friends that can help me)

I don’t know if there are built-in solutions for what I need, or if you can point me to a database template (for Access or FileMaker) already built for journalist research. The fact is that I have tons of information and documents (some of them already stuffed in CD and DVD backups), but I have a hard time keeping track of everything, and very often it is very difficult for me to retrieve information that I know I have saved but I can’t tell where it is. posted by samelborp at 10:29 AM PST - 9 comments

Are there 'standard' rates for text and banner advertisements? Are there any generally accepted pricing guidelines? Is there a formula a webmaster can use to determine how much they should charge for banners or text ads? What about exclusivity? (More Inside) [more inside]posted by cup at 9:49 AM PST - 3 comments

Lewis and Clark traveled up the Missouri River from the Mississippi to the Rockies, over 2,000 miles. UPSTREAM. What the hell? If you have to explore the river, why not just get some horses and wagons and walk alongside it? Why kill yourself paddling against the current for 2,000 miles? posted by luser at 9:34 AM PST - 10 comments

IckyBodilyFunctionFilter: When I don't wear socks, my hands sweat much more. Why is that?
(I wear socks 95% of the time, but today I've just got sandals on and my hands are clammy and gross as I type this.) posted by Mr Bunnsy at 9:22 AM PST - 7 comments

I'm helping my mother buy a digital camera for her extended trip to Thailand and have exhausted dpreview.com and the various other review sites. I need real-people recommendations: she wants something with decent resolution (at least 3 mp; I hope for 4 or better); under $300 hopefully; decent battery life (we tried a Nikon Coolpix but the batteries didn't last long enough - the Canon Powershot s50 batteries lasted for 200 shots and lots of flash, but the camera is just out of her price range); compact flash, since I have a number of cards for her, and ease of use. And it has to work with an older iMac with os9. Any ideas? posted by luriete at 9:15 AM PST - 7 comments

I have lots and lots of CD-ROMs of old files, scans of old papers I wanted to throw away to save space, etc. I'd like to have an index of them on my hard-drive, and found Offline CD Browser, some freeware that seems to do this. Has anyone used software to index their CDs that they'd like to recommend? posted by Stoatfarm at 8:52 AM PST - 2 comments

May 10

Since everyone else is doing it.
[Bookfilter] Fantasy book (or perhaps trilogy), It may have been classed as young adult (I found it in a middle school library). Main character is a member of the ruling class who are distinguished by their violet eyes. Main character goes on your standard fantasy book quest.
Can anyone remember seeing this?
[/Bookfilter] posted by Octaviuz at 11:11 PM PST - 5 comments

Looking for a book. Read in Quitslund's class at GWU in 1994. It is a book set in near-future California/Southwest. I want to say that it is called something like "Into the Valley of Light" but that's not it. Main character is a woman. Another character is named Mark. Water is scarse in the novel. If memory serves it was written by a woman. posted by n9 at 7:27 PM PST - 5 comments

Anyone out there have recommendations for book cataloging software? I'm looking for something heavy-duty. Barcode capabilities are nice, but since a good chunk of my collection dates from the 19th c., they're not necessary. The ability to export to a webpage would be a plus. I've been googling around for a bit, but would like some firsthand testimonials. posted by thomas j wise at 6:53 PM PST - 9 comments

Anyone know of a place or company that makes decent, cool, or interesting personal checks? I hate the bank's default blue ones, and all of the customized checks I can find are banal Puppies or Americana or Nature Scenes or worse (The Rock or Rob Zombie?) . Why can't I find any checks that look good (or even off-the-wall in a good way)? posted by kokogiak at 1:52 PM PST - 14 comments

The Boomerang Card Trick: While in Vegas over the weekend, I saw a magician throw a playing card such that it went around is body and returned to his hand. Didn't look like a "trick" so much as a very specialized way of throwing a card. Supposedly Ricky Jay has written about this in the past, but the book in which it is described is out of print. Anyone know where I can learn how to do this? posted by aladfar at 1:50 PM PST - 12 comments

For some temp work, I have to take an accounting skills test tomorrow. I haven't accounted for over five years. Can anyone show me where to find a copy or share with me what I'm likely to find? posted by Kwantsar at 1:42 PM PST - 2 comments

Jack and Jill went up a hill to fetch a pail of water. Up? Can that be right? Why would you put a well on top of a hill? Woudn't the water table be closer to the bottom of a hill? Just wondering... posted by grateful at 12:57 PM PST - 5 comments

I've checked out their web site over the years, but have never made it down to LA. And I just can't figure out if the place is for real or not... Has someone gone? What in the world is it all about?

The Tula Tea Room offers light refreshments, and the Borzoi Kabinet Theater screens the film Levsha, the Cross-Eyed Lefty from Tula and the Steel Flea at hourly intervals.posted by jasper411 at 12:10 PM PST - 12 comments

I just finished putting a computer together for my sister... a fresh install of Windows 2000 Pro. Every time iTunes or WinAmp accesses the drive (during playback), I can hear the crackly drive noise coming through the external speakers (left-side only in fact). As soon as I stop iTunes, the noise stops. Restart iTunes, the noise isn't there until it starts reading the drive again. This only happens when using either of those two pieces of software (meaning I haven't been able to reproduce the problem in any other way). What is the best way to go about troubleshooting this? posted by Witty at 11:21 AM PST - 6 comments

How long does it take to execute a will. If everyone mentioned in the will signs that they don't object to the will, does it mean that the will is then immediately processed or do 90 days still have to pass? [more inside]posted by drezdn at 11:09 AM PST - 2 comments

Hit "save" instead of "save as" in Excel... big mistake. The Undo control is 'greyed out' and googling doesn't give an answer, or I'm using the wrong words. Does anyone know if I can recover what I changed? posted by chaz at 10:12 AM PST - 6 comments

Are civil marriage ceremonies performed in Israel? Can an Israeli citizen Jewish man and a Israeli citizen non-Jewish woman marry each other? I have heard conflicting reports: some people tell me that the only legal ceremonies in Israel are religious ceremonies, which only allow Jews to marry Jews and Muslims to marry Muslims and Christians to marry Christians. Can someone straighten me out? posted by luriete at 10:10 AM PST - 7 comments

I have been asked to re-design a medium sized corporate website. The client is a systems engineering firm, so I would like to approach the work with a higher degree of systematicity tha I have before.
Is there a good primer on a systematic approach to web (re-) design? posted by signal at 8:41 AM PST - 4 comments

I remember seeing a free disposable email service which showed a public stream of received mail to any of its addresses right on the front page, and another one which let you syndicate its inbound-mail stream? Does anyone remember these services? I can't find them. posted by brownpau at 8:39 AM PST - 6 comments

I'm looking for a website that generates random names, I believe I may have seen it posted on Mefi, or some other similar website, but I can't be completely sure. It wasn't like on of those, what is your Wu-Name generators, but something where you can actually pick how rare you want the name to be, female, male, first and last names, etc. Does anyone remember this? [more inside]posted by corpse at 8:07 AM PST - 4 comments

Graduate school acceptance. Or really, not. I need some advice from all of you over-educated metafilterites. What do you do when you don't get accepted to your first choice graduate school? Besides, obviously, not attend. Have any of you had any luck with reapplying, and if so, what did you change on your application to "do the trick?" Anyone have luck with taking classes as a non-matriculated student just to get your foot in the door? Any advice is much appreciated. posted by hummus at 7:44 AM PST - 14 comments

In a moment of boredom I watched Cube 2: Hypercube on SciFi and didn't understand very much of it. Why were they all there? What was the actual point of them being there? What was the necklace all about? Why did they shoot Katie? What was she actually trying to do? My question really is: Does anyone know of any good websites where if you don't understand a film, someone else will tell you what it all meant? posted by ralawrence at 7:27 AM PST - 9 comments

When did the practice of TV news types speaking in—hmm, I guess they're headlines in a way—start? Lots of present participles, very few verbs. Was some kind of research done that showed people prefer to have someone tell them the news that way? posted by emelenjr at 6:49 AM PST - 7 comments

May 9

A question for any male gay mefi members -- or those in the know. It's my understanding that a good percentage of gay men are either exclusively "tops" or "bottoms". My question is this: how can you tell? Are the stereotypical gay mannerisms in fact just a subtle form of communicating this preference? Do you come straight out and ask? Or do you wait until the moment is upon you and hope for the best? [more inside]posted by Civil_Disobedient at 11:54 PM PST - 31 comments

I'm going through several old boxes of misc. tools from my dad. and other sources. garage sales, hand me downs, found in the trunk of my used car. I'm looking for hints on how to clean them and bring them back up to shape. I'm noticing some of the tools are faring much better after years of neglect than other. Any hints on how to restore some of the most rusted ones, or tips on keeping the better ones in good condition? [more inside]posted by jeribus at 11:10 PM PST - 13 comments

I have a Motorola c350 that has a USB cord with it, but no software. After a great deal of searching for software, (or even what the USB is used for), I come here for help. What is it used for? Where can I find software? posted by Quartermass at 9:20 PM PST - 2 comments

Music software reccomendation needed: I'm looking for a very simple VSTi host application for Windows. All it needs to do is load a VSTi plugin and send external MIDI input to it - no sequencing, no effect chains. And, it needs to work on Windows 95. (There seem to be a few of these available for MacOSX, but Google doesn't give me any for Windows) Any suggestions? posted by Jimbob at 8:03 PM PST - 7 comments

I know this may be quite a stretch on the little info I remember, but back in the mid 80s, there was a Japanese live action short about 2 toys that escaped from a toy store. I vaguely remember one was a camera or a pair of binoculars with glasses on it. I believe I saw it on PBS or on The Disney Channel. posted by pieoverdone at 7:50 PM PST - 5 comments

HELP! Suddenly, every PDF I download from various databases is corrupt in some way. Either there is "insufficient data for an image" or "unable to extract font X", this has never happened to me before. I have no problem grabbing PDFs from other sites, so I don't know if the corruption is caused by dropped packets going through the library proxy server, evil gremlins, or my recent installation of Reader 6 alongside Acrobat Pro 5 posted by Grod at 7:08 PM PST - 9 comments

I just watched The Chinese Connection for the first time in a long time. There is a scene where Bruce Lee sees the nipples of his kung fu school's cook. (Lee walks into the kitchen and the camera does a tight shot on the man's exposed nipples.) Somehow, the nipples are evidence to Lee that the cook is in fact Japanese, not Chinese (and therefore the likely murderer of the school's teacher.) Is there any rational reason for this? posted by badstone at 6:44 PM PST - 12 comments

If he cuts off but a lap of truth's garment, his heart smites him. --Fuller.

What's this author's full name, and can someone give me some links to information about him/her? Even amazon's "search in book" isn't of much help. Also, in general: How do you find the full name of an author listed in the omnipresent web1913? Is there a bibliography somewhere that hasn't spread quite as far as the definitions? [more inside]posted by fvw at 6:11 PM PST - 4 comments

I hate seeing this type of 'advertise-me-a-product' question, but I'm completely in the dark and a bit of a luddite in this area: can anyone recommend a decent personal CD player, specifically one that can play mp3 CD-Rs?

The budget is £85 absolute maximum, and I don't mind getting a pair of decent cans. Would appreciate good volume capacity and a decent capacity for bass. Thanks in advance and all that. posted by boneybaloney at 3:13 PM PST - 11 comments

I have a file that is automatically generated every day at midnight. For simplicity, I'll call it netflix.html, cause that's its name. The autogenerated file contains, among other things, long URLs, and in some of the URLs is '&lnkctr=RecListStar'. This phrase causes the URLs to break, and I would like to run a cron command at 12:05 or so to go through netflix.html and strip out all occurences of that bit of text, leaving everything else untouched.

May 8

Skincare. I have lovely soft, clear skin everywhere except for my nose. With alarming regularity, wee spots will pop up on it filled with white stuff that is ick (zits?), despite the fact it's never greasy. Any advice for getting rid of these/maintaining my follicles? posted by Mossy at 6:18 PM PST - 11 comments

Musicians: can you suggest any good programs to set up backing tracks on your computer to practice over? Along the lines of Groove Blender, but less limited. A programmable Jamie Aebersold CD, if you will. Ideally, of course, free and downloadable. Extra points for groovy beats. posted by gottabefunky at 6:05 PM PST - 2 comments

I'm curious fellow Mefi's. What do you think are three most significant detriments of the Internet to society? Your perspective(s) could be from cultural values, business, education, media, technology, developing countries, privacy, etc. On the flip side, what would you consider the most significant benefits of the Internet to society? No right or wrong answer, just picking your brain... posted by Macboy at 5:32 PM PST - 25 comments

I've finished my teacher education program and now I want a job. I sent out resumes to every school system I was interested in and followed up with the basic "Just want to confirm you received it" blah blah blah. I've been told that, now that some systems are posting openings, I should be calling them regularly to keep them aware of my name. But... what do I say? [more inside]posted by ferociouskitty at 9:42 AM PST - 4 comments

I'm a huge fan of the epic British TV-dramas from the 70s & 80s -- the type shown here in America on "Masterpiece Theatre." Though some of the most famous ones ("Upstairs, Downstairs", "I, Claudius") have been out on DVD for a long time, I've noticed that recently some of the more obscure ones are coming out ("The Charmer," "To Serve Them All My Days"). I usually get my DVD news from dvdjournal.com, but that site doesn't list British series. Does anyone know of a site that tracks them? I am specifically interested in versions for the US, since I don't have a region-free DVD player yet. posted by grumblebee at 8:48 AM PST - 8 comments

Anyone familiar with programming in Delphi and/or Kylix? Seeking to make some very simple (hopefully cross-platform) apps, I'm on the verge of taking the plunge and need someone to encourage/dissuade me. (I have a vanilla C background and kinda recall Pascal, if that matters). [more inside]posted by RavinDave at 8:42 AM PST - 7 comments

After trying hard to solve this problem, I gave up, and went out and bought another wireless adaptor for my 2nd PC. I now have both PCs connected to the wireless router, but transfer speeds between the two are a lot slower. Is it possible for me to use an ethernet connection for transferring stuff between these two PCs, and the separate wireless connections for everything else? posted by Orange Goblin at 6:44 AM PST - 7 comments

I've just been contacted by an art buyer from a large advertising agency in the US, who is interested in purchasing the use of a photograph I have in a gallery on from my web site for use on a poster for one of their clients. I took the photo myself, still have high resolution versions of it, and have never done this before. How much should I ask for? PS - Make it quick! posted by armoured-ant at 6:32 AM PST - 19 comments

Danny O'Brien's bid for an O'Reilly book deal, Life Hacks (more here is a list of "Tech Secrets of Overprolific Alpha Geeks." There's lots of text-editor usage to track tasks, little scripts, and all kinds of nifty thingies.

What are your life hacks? You get extra points if they are non-obvious and incorporate free software. Best hack gets a prize
The private blog -- a secret blog, using a tool:

Brad Fitzpatrick of LiveJournal: 8 entries every 10 min are
private. Closed off from everyone.

Announce stuff is moving into RSS -- email announcements to
something that syndicates over RSS

May 7

Can anyone recommend further listening along the lines of "The Treatment" in Real/WMA/mp3-based streaming format? I mean, obviously there's "Fresh Air" and "ATC." But are there more? I drive a lot. A LOT. I am interested in entertainment and popular culture. Not so much the political, please, unless it's far-out crackpot funny stuff. posted by britain at 11:02 PM PST - 8 comments

What's the best (nicest or most fun) hotel in Toronto? I'm thinking of going later this summer. Any suggestions for fun things to do there would also be much appreciated. [more inside]posted by LittleMissCranky at 8:30 PM PST - 13 comments

Well, I'm moving to NYC at the end of June/start of July and I need to find a place to live. I'm looking for a 1 bedroom apartment, hopefully on Manhatten. Now, I've never gone apartment hunting and I was hoping some nyc mefites might be able to give me some pointers on what to do, how to do it, and where a good place to live is. posted by Stynxno at 6:48 PM PST - 18 comments

Anyone know of a good online glossary of radio news broadcast terminology...differentiating between expressions like "voice," a "cut," etc.? I'm a little rusty and need a refresher. posted by inksyndicate at 6:31 PM PST - 1 comment

It's all the cat's fault. I have cat allergies and the only thing that's worked so far is Zyrtec. Great, only the problem is that my insurance company thinks that a fair co-pay for this particular miracle drug is $35 for a month's supply. A quick Google search turned up a lot of (supposedly) Canadian companies willing to sell me branded and generic Zyrtec at much lower prices. My question: is it safe to order prescription drugs -- assuming you've actually been prescribed them by your doctor, which I was -- through online Canadian sources? posted by baltimore at 6:20 PM PST - 19 comments

I played the rock-hard quiz computer at a London pub, and lost. The machine informed me that I'd won £2, so I pressed collect. £4 came out. I continued collecting, without the onscreen figure of £2 diminishing. As a penniless student, I emptied the machine and departed in a trance-like state, with £66 (US$118). The barman congratulated me, saying I was the first person he'd ever seen win anything on it. Lovely chap.

Have I committed a crime?(US Lawyers: since I'm a foreigner, I imagine it's OK to give your opinion here. But then, IANAL.)[more inside]posted by Pretty_Generic at 1:39 PM PST - 30 comments

I was reading the CNN.com article on the last Friend's episode and the last part about the "Cheers" live showing on The Tonight Show caught my attention. After reading some usenet articles, I found out that for some reason the entire Cheers' cast was at a bar getting smashed on the air. Jay Leno apparently hated it, and so did most commenters on usenet; except for a few that thought it was hilarious. So my question is thus, what happened on that show? Can anyone recall the antics? Kelsey Grammer drunk? I also heard that everyone except Sen. John Kerry was trashed. I have no idea what the atmosphere was but it would be neat to see Kerry at a bar interacting without everything being finely combed. Which leads me to question two, has anything like this happened before? The idea of celebrities/politicians being real and candid (albeit through alcohol, in vino veritas) is interesting, though it appears from the usenet post, being sloshed and "real" is taboo. posted by geoff. at 11:34 AM PST - 17 comments

I once spent an evening in Wadi Rhum listening to (and eventually jamming with) a bunch of Bedouin camel-jockeys / tour-guides. They played different sized sitars and what seemed to be a relative of the violin. The music used similar keys and rhythms to Flamenco, but faster, with 1/4 tone intervals and single-note lines (i.e.: no chords). The sitar players used a long plectrum, held like a pen.
What might be the name of this style of music, and what artists/recordings should I search for? [more inside]posted by signal at 10:26 AM PST - 6 comments

What are some good text-based (ala BASIC and Lunar Lander, etc) games that would be fun to OOP? Something little kids could enjoy, but more importantly, dad could learn to program without going into GUIs. posted by grefo at 10:07 AM PST - 11 comments

How can a major key sound confident and happy, while a minor key can sound sinister or sad? Is it just centuries of musical brainwashing, or is there a real mathematical explanation? posted by Pretty_Generic at 8:52 AM PST - 16 comments

Anyone know of a russian-language equivalent of Hotmail/ yahoo / free web mail for a technophobic russian friend? Bonus points for advice on how to type cyrillic using English keyboards, as she'll be using public library computers. posted by Pericles at 4:24 AM PST - 4 comments

The 2nd Man. Can anyone think of any examples of literature which is written in the second person? We've had a think in this office and can't think of any 2nd person stuff that is pornographic. Surely there must be something? posted by twine42 at 3:46 AM PST - 28 comments

Does anyone know of any famous codes or ciphers that have gone unsolved for lengthy periods of time or remain unsolved? I am thinking specifically of things like The May Day Mystery and the Voynich Manuscript (also here). So things more like those and generally less like the Beale Cipher. Maybe something to do with Art Brut or Outsider art or perhaps Kabbalic systems like Gematria. Or, if all else fails maybe something by the Rosicrucians or Freemasons?

Put another way, I am looking for cryptic and complex visual systems that maintain an internal logic (however faulty or suspect) and ESPECIALLY anything having to do with the interpretation and/or decipherment of such systems. posted by mokujin at 1:46 AM PST - 2 comments

May 6

Red means stop....or does it? I'm developing an icon set for a web application, and I'm looking for indicators to mean "not yet started," "in progress," and "completed." My inclination is to go with red, yellow, green, but my experience with traffic lights seems to indicate that green (you haven't started, so go), yellow, and red (you're done, so stop) might be more logical. Anyone have any suggestions on which would be more intuitive? posted by oissubke at 11:24 PM PST - 15 comments

I saw the The Cooler last night. Great idea for a movie, lousy script, IMO. My question: Do Coolers really exist? Or are they, as the movie suggests, a thing of the past. Does anyone here believe they have the bad luck it takes to become a Cooler? posted by btwillig at 9:02 PM PST - 4 comments

My parents have an Old English sheepdog, and while he has the most adorable set of eyes, we can't help but wonder, is there a medical reason that so many other sheepdog owners keep the fur covering their eyes? Are Old English sheepdogs prone to cataracts? posted by invisible ink at 2:35 PM PST - 4 comments

I want to add a decent floor-standing jointer to my woodworking shop. (I'm a serious hobbyist.) I'm looking at one with a total 67-inch long table, but I'm wondering if this is overkill. Can I get decent results with a shorter (say 46") table? posted by sixpack at 2:25 PM PST - 7 comments

Looking to do some discussion forums on a commercial web site. I know there's a bunch of code in a can for this kind of stuff. Most of the one's I've seen are looking to be run on MySQL and PHP. Most of our site is on Microsoft SQL Server and IIS/ASP. Does anybody have thoughts or suggestions with respect to the best package for that environment? [more inside]posted by willnot at 2:05 PM PST - 6 comments

I just rented The Last Samurai last night and really loved it. But it reminded me of a question I have every time I see a movie with battle scenes with horses (a la Braveheart). How do they get those horses to do all those horse "stunts"? They must inevitably break dozens if not hundreds of legs. Can horses be trained to fall as if shot? And doesn't the cacophony of all the explosions on the set freak them out? posted by vito90 at 1:15 PM PST - 19 comments

You know those giant municipal water towers? I had always assumed that they were full of water, but on the way out of town today I noticed a truck door and a regular door on one... indicating to me that you might be able to drive a truck and/or walk into it. What is the inside of one of these structures like? Where is the water? posted by pissfactory at 1:03 PM PST - 8 comments

So yesterday my wife — Ms. We're-Not-Moving — found a house closer to Portland that she loves. We both love it. The only offer we can make, though, is contingent upon selling our home, which we hadn't even considered until yesterday. Help! Does anyone have experience with this kind of thing? What can we do to make a contingency offer more attractive? What about bridge loans? Anyone have experience with those? I need advice on hurried real estate transactions (other than "don't do them"). posted by jdroth at 11:23 AM PST - 10 comments

I need to convert a scanned pdf to searchable text, without printing it out and scanning it back in using OCR. Also, I'd like a cheap or free solution since I'm not likely to use it often ever again. posted by nomis at 12:23 AM PST - 17 comments

I got an email today from a headhunter about a tech position in Bermuda that's open. Having never been to Bermuda, and knowing only what Google has shown me, I was hoping perhaps someone here has lived there, and could give me their thoughts on living/working/moving to the area. [More Inside, Naturally][more inside]posted by Jairus at 12:16 AM PST - 21 comments

May 5

Looking for a special present for a Beatles fan. I seem to remember some really cool handwritten framed lyrics and the like for sale in the old public radio Wireless catalog, which does not seem to exist anymore. Anyone have a line on a similar thing, or another Beatles-related gift that's kind of special? posted by GaelFC at 11:05 PM PST - 5 comments

I've a (fast) Windows setup and I want to install & run the Mac software on this page. The software requires "a Macintosh computer, ...8MB RAM, System 7.1 or later". What's the best and/or cheapest way of doing this? posted by Gyan at 6:22 PM PST - 5 comments

I'm considering buying a DSL modem outright, to take care of that pesky rental charge each month from my ISP. Does the make and brand of modem make much of a difference in terms of reliability and speed, or are the ISP and phone lines in between more of a determining factor? posted by danwalker at 5:52 PM PST - 3 comments

Some months ago I bought a RAID card for my desktop PC, and a second hard drive. I'd like to set up a mirrored RAID array just to decrease my chances of ever losing any data. My problem is that the instructions are clear on how to install the card, but not on what to do if I ever experience trouble. Can I take one drive from a mirrored array and put it in another machine? If one drive fails, will the other just keep trucking and boot the PC? Any experience getting a mirrored RAID set up, or recovering one, would be appreciated. posted by scarabic at 5:22 PM PST - 7 comments

Could a typical young man, armed only with a knife, (say, six or eight inches long) be trained to consistently "win" fights with a grizzly bear? Assume no element of surprise. posted by Kwantsar at 2:41 PM PST - 87 comments

They had a blood drive at my daughter's high school today. She just came home and informed me her blood pressure was 64 over 40 when they took it-and that her sister's was 70 over something or other. Mine is 100 over 60, and that's low enough-do I need to rush these kids to a doctor, or was the person taking the blood pressure in need of a job change? posted by konolia at 12:44 PM PST - 16 comments

I'm asking for your life experiences here. Two people who were in a close relationship broke up, and attempted to remain friends, and more or less failed for different reasons. Now it's a year and a half later, and other things have changed where it's possible and likely in my mind that it could work again. Have you ever been or known someone in this situation, and did it turn out for the better rather than the expected worse? I'm looking for a reason not to be pessimistic, as I usually am. posted by lysol at 12:04 PM PST - 27 comments

Buying a home without a realtor. My landlord wants to sell the place I am living in (he lives in the lower, me the upper) because he is using the money to buy a business. He wants to sell quickly as the business loan is contingent on his sale of the home. The only catch is that he wants to forgo using a realtor by using an attorney instead. Has anyone here ever bought a home this way? What are the advantages/disadvantages on my end? Any common mistakes to avoid? posted by sharksandwich at 8:29 AM PST - 16 comments

There are several Russian mp3 download companies selling tracks for silly cheap prices. It looks like they are acting legally due to a loopholein Russian law. Does anyone know if this makes it legal to download and use their tracks outside of Russia? posted by twine42 at 3:18 AM PST - 20 comments

my partner's weblog's RSS feed is being republished on a Live Journal users friends page, without permission. is it right that your blog can be aggregated and published on another site without permission? have LJ automated copyright theft? posted by quarsan at 1:51 AM PST - 19 comments

May 4

Make-Your-Own-"Morning Edition": Are there any RSS readers or services that deal exclusively with audio news and audio blogs? I'd love to be able to scan headlines and drag/drop audio links from NPR and other places into a playlist. posted by PrinceValium at 11:57 PM PST - 2 comments

Has anyone seen the off-broadway show, "I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change"? I just wondered if it is worth seeing. There arent any big broadway shows on the day I want to go to the theatre. Also any thoughts on, "The Last Five Years"? posted by Recockulous at 8:09 PM PST - 15 comments

I'm wondering about the laws related to political TV ads. I thought candidates had to have some sort of video taped approval message at the end of them. Hence the "My name is Kang, and I approve of this message." I've been seeing at the end of ads. Now, I'm noticing this same speech at the begriming of the ads, which makes me wonder if it was mandated to be at the end. I tend to zone out lots of TV, so if an ad has the approval message at the beginning, I have to watch for fine print at the end. Is this a changing trend? posted by jeribus at 7:29 PM PST - 8 comments

Law question. The Constitution prohibits the United States awarding titles of nobility, right? So is it illegal if a Congressman holds a ceremony crowning someone king? What if it's part of a religious ceremony? What cases have explored this area? posted by inksyndicate at 4:50 PM PST - 16 comments

Crackling MP3s/AACs. I'm encoding with iTunes, and a lot of my tracks have a noticeable crackle about three seconds in. It's regardless of choosing AAC or MP3 as my format. What's causing it and how can I fix it? posted by bonaldi at 3:53 PM PST - 7 comments

I'm in a bit of a pickle - the developers of a website I work on have used HTML Components (.htc) to drive the dynamic portion of the site. User testing revealed that it's working on Windows with IE 5.5 and above, but it's not working on any of the Macs we're used, which are running OS 9 and OS X, and have IE 5, Netscape and Safari browsers.

Short of re-coding the entire user interface, does anyone know of a workaround for our friends on Macs? posted by pjhagop at 12:56 PM PST - 6 comments

I'm looking to relocate to Ontario for the summer with the possibility of staying longer if I'm accepted to one of the schools that I've applied to there. In particular, I've been looking at London, Hamilton, possibly Brantford. My significant other lives in New York (I'm moving from B.C.) so close to the border would be nice if there's a decent supply of job opportunities. What about Niagara Falls or St. Catharines? Too touristy? Are there any places that I should avoid. My budget is tight, but I want someplace safe.. If you're familiar with B.C., I'd like to avoid places similar to East Hastings or Granville at all cost. [more inside]posted by Raze2k at 11:55 AM PST - 22 comments

AMD or Intel? I'm calling on the collective to abandon corporate loyalties and reveal unto me a true assessment. Even the mighty Tom has no clear answer. For the home-user who wants to avoid obsolescence for the next 18 months, which of these two companies' processing products offers the best bang for my buck? Or more specifically, for my $180 or less? [MI] [more inside]posted by grabbingsand at 10:49 AM PST - 14 comments

Bike rental & trails around Moab, UT
I'll be looping into UT thru Zion, Bryce to stay in the Moab area for a couple of days & want to rent a couple of mountain bikes to do some trails. Anyone care to recommend a good local bike shop & some 'must do' trails? And I'll be in Yellowstone/Tetons in a couple of weeks...any rental/trail recommendations around there? [bit more within] [more inside]posted by i_cola at 10:20 AM PST - 5 comments

Could a small nuclear device, sunk to the bottom of Yellowstone lake and detonated, actually cause the Yellowstone super-caldera to erupt? (more inside) posted by troutfishing at 9:19 AM PST - 25 comments

When watching American TV and films, I often see house numbers such as 1711 or 3242 or whatever. Are the streets actually that long? Are there thousands of houses on one street? Or does the number break down into something else? posted by Orange Goblin at 9:05 AM PST - 57 comments

My employer has given me the ability to take one business trip this year, to the convention of my choice, for knowledge gathering etc... I'm a web designer / developer. What conventions should I be looking at? I know about seybold / macworld, but I was looking for something more web-specific. Any suggestions? posted by quibx at 8:34 AM PST - 7 comments

Openoffice.org question. I've been using OO.o for a couple of weeks now and one thing is driving me mad. The cursor always looks to be about 1em further ahead of the text than it actually is. As a result I frequently find myself thinking I typed an extra space and deleting the last letter of a word. Is there any way to fix this? It is actually annoying enough that I will stick with Word until it is resolved. [more inside]posted by Grod at 8:43 PM PST - 9 comments

I'm making a display for the library in which I work. The display is to show off our collection of children's book in languages besides English. I want to have phrases like 'reading is fun', 'read books' and so on in as many languages as possible. Please list away! posted by malpractice at 8:18 PM PST - 35 comments

I'll be accompanying my significant other to the Scottsdale, Arizona area for the next few days while she attends a conference. Since I'm just along for the trip, I'll have several days worth of time to fill. I've already looked up the 'best' used book and record stores according to the local weekly. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to spend the remainder of my time (ie sightseeing / attractions / shops)? I'm not very outdoorsy but I'm willing to fake it. posted by adamkempa at 6:42 PM PST - 9 comments

What software do you guys use for online photo albums? I've just gotten a new digital camera and I'd like something that, ideally, can take all the photos I have in a given directory and throw them up on the web in an album. It would be even better if I can add captions and allow comments. We are running Linux at home, and I'm looking for something easy -- I'm no programming goddess. Thanks! posted by sugarfish at 6:38 PM PST - 14 comments

I'm looking for some kind of "mirror status" system-dealy. Basically, i need a listing of mirrors for a file and then a little status indicator next to each mirror showing if its up or not....like what this guy uses. [mi] [more inside]posted by bob sarabia at 5:43 PM PST - 2 comments

Does anyone have any experience with solid or foam-core bicycle tires? I've been looking at these and these. I have always hated flats, patches and pumps. Is this a safe and worthwhile option? [more inside]posted by milovoo at 5:27 PM PST - 9 comments

I'm throwing around ideas for an up-coming writing project and I seem to recall reading about ten years ago about a special edition version of the original series of Star Trek which ran on a cable channel in the US. Did this ever happen, did anyone see them, and what form did it take -- were there new scenes and/or special effects? posted by feelinglistless at 2:54 PM PST - 6 comments

What is the advantage of owning stock which has voting rights? These guys (the first 20 posts, specifically comment #17) imply that stock which has voting rights will trade at a premium. Furthermore, this Berkshire memo mentions that there will fluctuation and difference in supply and demand between two types of stock that have a constant valuation ratio despite having differing voting rights.

What is it about voting rights that would add or decrease value to a company's net worth? Most of the links I've checked seem to only confirm that yes, there is a difference. posted by sleslie at 2:02 PM PST - 3 comments

I have a Hub, a desktop and a laptop. The desktop is currently hooked up to the net via Rogers. How do I arrange to have the internet access shared with the laptop? [more inside] [more inside]posted by aclevername at 1:00 PM PST - 18 comments

I'm going to Churrascaria Plataforma in NYC in a couple of weeks, an all-you-can-eat Brazilian restaurant that encourages gastronomic excess. What are strategies I can employ to help me consume more food than a person should reasonably eat in a single sitting? (Time isn't a factor, I don't think--it's a fixed-price menu, and I believe you can stay as long as you like.) And is there any Brazilian cuisine that I should try while I'm there? posted by Prospero at 12:34 PM PST - 36 comments

Before I go to the lawyer and/or accountant; If I have a server that's colocated at a facility outside the US (Canada, Europe, etc.), but I'm providing US based customers a service with that server (web hosting, some kind of ASP, etc.), do I need to take any extra measures regarding customs, taxes and the like? posted by alan at 11:06 AM PST - 0 comments

Out of state speeding tickets. Any way to avoid paying the fine? Non owner, busted in Arizona, live in Mass, liscense from NJ. Which state DMV or RMV do I need info from? posted by brent at 10:28 AM PST - 8 comments

I've never had a credit card before, but now I'm ready to bite-the-bullet and apply for one. I have a decent bill-paying history, have never had a loan, and make around $30,000 / year. I'd love to find a card with an introductory 0% APR -- Bank One seems to have what I want, but I don't know if I should be considering more options. What should I do. [more inside]posted by TurkishGolds at 9:31 AM PST - 35 comments

AskLegalFilter: As a sort of follow-up to this thread, some friends and I have invented a game and have started to show it to representatives from game companies. There's been some interest, and before we can think about moving forward, I think we have to start with the legal stuff on our end. What sort of legal entity do my friends and I need to become so that someone can license intellectual property (mostly writing, as opposed to a unique style of play) from us and write us checks? And how can we do it for the least cost? Assume that we're more or less equal partners (somewhere between 33/33/33 and 35/35/30). posted by blueshammer at 8:22 AM PST - 11 comments

Scene rattling around in my head I can't place... I saw/read/heard a movie/tv show/rock video/sand painting/book/story/radio show/erotic poem wherein someone, a bad guy I think, is talking about super heros, and he says Superman is his favourite... [something inside, could it be "more", yes, it could very well be] [more inside]posted by Capn at 7:50 AM PST - 9 comments

Two video cards, one desktop: If I take a video card from an old desktop and install it in a new desktop how much BIOS/system customizing do I have to do? I'm purchasing a new desktop today - a cheapo eMachine and was hoping to get a second LCD panel as well. Or is it easiest to just buy a new video card that supports two video outputs (any recommendations)? posted by ao4047 at 6:53 AM PST - 6 comments

UI design question -- I have a Windows application, basically a frontend to a database, whose interface has mututated over the years, through various "enhancements," to the point that it's almost unusable by the non-technical people for whom it exists. Anyone have any recommendations of firms that do UI makeovers? What could I get for around $5,000? posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 5:48 AM PST - 4 comments

I want to report a spammer, but I am having trouble figuring out where to direct my complaint. I have googled this and looked at a lot of anti-spam sites, but I still have questions. [more inside] [more inside]posted by TheIrreverend at 4:46 AM PST - 4 comments

Legal question time! I hosted a party, and I was charged with Furnishing Alcohol to a Minor, section ORS 471.410, Oregon Law. Problem is, I am not 21. More inside. (Note: Any advice will not be referred as legal guidance.) [more inside]posted by Keyser Soze at 3:16 AM PST - 65 comments

Speakers! - Any opinions about a good quality speaker system - unobtrusive satellite speakers combined with a subwoofer - in the $100-$300 price range? posted by troutfishing at 9:53 PM PST - 10 comments

How would I go about painting on top of color photographs with acrylic paints? I would like to branch out from pure photography and into multimedia; however I have no knowledge of painting process. I am currently taking an acrylics painting course at a commnity college, and while I am beginning to get the basics of applying paint to a canvas, I am at a loss as to how I might prepare a photograph surface for painting. A related question: how about painting on smooth plastic lamps? posted by blindcarboncopy at 8:31 PM PST - 6 comments

I've been asked to present a special three-hour radio programme on pop/rock bands from Manhattan. Not NYC - a very limiting factor. I'm currently bowled over by The Walkmen and I want to book-end them with The Velvet Underground. Any suggestions for in between? All I can think of is John Lurie and his progeny, as we tend to think of New York bands, rather than "Manhattan". Thanks beforehand! posted by MiguelCardoso at 7:27 PM PST - 35 comments

I'm going to be getting a new tv soon, and I'm having trouble making a
decision. I can get the last generation Samsung 50" DLP (HLN5065W) for
$3 500 CND (about $2 600 USD) or the new model, the HLP5063W for $5 000
CDN (about $3 465 USD). Do you know anything about these T.V.'s? Which
would you recommend? I'm having a hard time finding reviews for the
newer model, I'm not sure it's out yet. Anyway, any help would be
appreciated. posted by Evstar at 6:41 PM PST - 7 comments

Is there any way for a non-American to finagle access to the iTunes Music Store? Does anyone have reliable information on when it might be available in Canada? posted by timeistight at 6:14 PM PST - 8 comments

MTFilter: I want to track several lists of items (movies to be watched, books to be read, music listened to) as side-bar items on my MoveableType site. I suspect I can do this by creating blogs for each type of item but I'm a bit lost as to the details. Pointers? posted by daver at 4:29 PM PST - 11 comments

Is there a way on Google to have it exclude shopping sites from a search? If I search on a book or movie title, or hotel name, most of the results are just generic sales pages and not very informative. Willing to use a different search engine if I can get the desired results. posted by billsaysthis at 4:07 PM PST - 6 comments

Garden bug question: What are these things (photographs inside; NSFPeople who don't like creepycrawlies)? I dug up at least a dozen of them while tilling my backyard garden. [more inside]posted by me3dia at 2:22 PM PST - 13 comments

I'd really like some nice-looking icons for a site I'm working on. The functions that need icons are 'front/home', 'make post/new post', 'archives', 'options', 'register', 'log in' and 'log out'. The 64x64 size would be ideal. Surely someone out there must produce free icons for this kind of thing? The site is completely non-profit. posted by reklaw at 1:53 PM PST - 13 comments

Can anyone recommend 3+ player games for the SNES? Secret of Mana is the only thing that comes to my mind, but I'm sure there are others. No genre restrictions - just something fun for 3 friends to goof around with. posted by Hypharse at 11:49 AM PST - 15 comments

How good does my box spring need to be? My current box spring won't fit up the stairs and into my new apartment, so I need to get a split model. Does it need to match the make/model of my mattress, and is there a real difference in quality? posted by mkultra at 11:10 AM PST - 11 comments

May 1

I'd like to bicycle more, and would love to commute to work on bike. However, the most direct route to work is up a 35-40 MPH road. Are there any software packages for mapping that allow me to make routes that exclude certain roads, so I can exclude the heavily traffic routes. posted by benjh at 7:47 PM PST - 6 comments

I need a new mattress. While shopping around, I tried one of those TemPurpedic, Swedish foam mattersses. They are about 4x more than I would ever expect to pay for a bed, but i am tempted. Anyone have any experience/advice/tips on these? Worth it or not? Any cheaper alternatives? posted by bluno at 7:07 PM PST - 13 comments

Severely comicbook-geekish question: Storyboard and film-design artist Mike Ploog used to do comics. He did some breathtaking b&w art on the 1970s Marvel Planet of the Apes Magazine. Does anyone have a Ploog checklist, or know which POTA issues between 16 and 29 Ploog did art for? [more inside]posted by Shane at 6:23 PM PST - 1 comment

Having recently acquired a cheapo tablet, I am looking for programs to play with that take advantage of 256 levels of pressure sensitiviy. I have had fun with photoshop, illustrator, freehand, fireworks and corel painter. Can somebody recomend other apps where a tablet makes a difference? posted by signal at 5:09 PM PST - 9 comments

I have a screwed up driver situation on my pc. I've tried everything i can think of, and i need help. it was suggested i look here.

Here's the PbP:

- My DVD player (Sony DDU1621) on my WinXP box wouldn't open. it would just whirr and blink, so i removed it, uninstalled it, and then reinstalled it.
- While I was checking the connections, i accidentally unplugged my harddrive ribbon. I had XP installed on the second drive in a daisy-chain, and when i replugged everything, my computer started up in win98. But my DVD drive worked.
-- The goal here was to install Linux, so i figured i didn't need XP anyway, and while i was downloading the linux iso (onto another box), i set out to totally clean out the harddrive that used to have XP on it, so i could get it ready for Linux.
-- Two hours later, i went to actually begin installing Linux, and suddenly the DVD drive won't open again.
-- I have now physically removed and replaced the DVD drive at least a dozen times. Sometimes the F drive shows up in My Computer, sometimes it doesn't. When it does show up, it still doesn't work (when i click on it it gives me an error alert saying there is a problem with the device).
- When it doesn't show up , i go to Install New Hardware, and it lists Sony Proprietary CD-Rom Controller. When I select it, i get an update window that says 'This device is already installed, but it has a problem.' There are no updates available (i'm not currently online and all of the networking software was installed into XP), and so i just click OK, and nothing has changed.
- I cannot find another driver for this device. I found something listed on DriverGuide, but it was just some batch that callibrates audio and video input.
- I found another DVD drive, this time a cheap one called a MadDog BKM-52X16, and i replaced it. but my win98 device manager doesn't detect it and still brings up the Sony Proprietary CD-Rom Controller as the only option when i run Install New Hardware.

so all i need is to get a cd drive recognized so i can either reinstall xp, or go ahead and install Linux -- both of which, of course, would solve the problem. but so long as i can't read a cd, i can't do either. so i'm stuck.

Two questions:
1. Has the time come for MeFiTrade International or BarterMeFi?
2. Would anyone trade me Open Office on disc for goods or services (or a little $$)? [more inside]posted by Shane at 4:26 PM PST - 16 comments

I'd like to purchase a laptop for my work, but I know jack crap about hardware, and I don't know where to start looking. Anyone have recommendations on where to go about getting a robust laptop for a fair price? (Specifically, a Windows machine with lots of speed and memory for graphic design and software development -- size/appearance aren't much of a concern.) posted by oissubke at 10:55 AM PST - 4 comments

Can I take my American iPod to England and (with nothing but an an adaptor to correctly plug into a British socket) plug it into the wall for recharging? Will it accept UK power? Will it blow up? I want to listen to music while I'm there, but I don't want to break an expensive piece of equipment. I tried Google and Apple.com, but I couldn't find anything about this. posted by grumblebee at 8:50 AM PST - 9 comments

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